


Never Truly Abandoned

by Dean_loves_Cas_forever



Category: Sam and Colby, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blood and Violence, Eventual Smut, Exploring, Ghosts, Haunted Places, In the later smut, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Abuse (not main characters), Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Rating May Change, Rating Will Change Let's Be Honest, Slow Build?, Spooky, Top Colby, i don't know what to tag, kind of not really, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2020-05-12 13:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19230262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dean_loves_Cas_forever/pseuds/Dean_loves_Cas_forever
Summary: Sam and Colby are notorious for exploring abandoned places, but are they ever really deserted? Whether it's unwanted guests or paranormal beings, the places they visit are never truly abandoned.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just supposed to be a fun story of Sam, Colby, the trap house (old and new) and other friends exploring places and having a good time (with Solby added in). Obviously, they're going to be somewhat out of character because I, unfortunately, don't know any of them personally. A lot of the stories I've seen of Sam and Colby have been super sad and traumatic for them so I wanted to write a happy one that had some tension just to jazz it up a bit. (The time in which this takes place is uncertain but hey ho)
> 
> So enjoy.

"Sam, Colby?" A voice called from down the hall. Their heads turned towards the door and, a few seconds later, Elton walked through. Sam sat up on his bed and put down his phone to give Elton his attention. "I found a place for you guys to explore." 

"Oh sick. Where?" Colby asked, sitting up in Sam's armchair. Elton passed Sam his phone then joined the younger man on his bed. Colby moved to the bed too so he could see the screen. 

"There are two abandoned buildings in the middle of the forest a few hours from here, it's a hospital and an orphanage. Apparently, it's super haunted." Elton explained simply. "If you do it, I'll tell you more but that's the basics." Sam and Colby looked at each other then nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds fun." Sam said.

"Will you come?" Colby asked after reading the page over Sam's shoulder for a moment. 

"Oh yeah, for sure." Elton agreed easily. Colby smiled and took the phone out of Sam's hand. 

"How about we ask Corey to come with us?" Colby suggested happily. Sam made a noise of agreement, they knew that the fans enjoyed when they got the old exploring group together.

"Let's go!" Sam exclaimed suddenly. 

"What? Right now?" Elton asked slowly, not that he was shocked by Sam's enthusiasm. 

"Yeah, why not? It's still early so we will make it there at like 1:30 and have time before we visit it for the night." Sam reasoned. Colby shrugged and stood up, he patted Sam on the shoulder as he stabilised himself but let his hand rest there while he turned to Elton. 

"Why not?" He said. "I'll go get Corey." Sam grinned up at his best friend. Colby handed Elton his phone. "You pack our bag, Sam." He said as he left Sam's room. 

"Ok, I guess we're going now." Elton laughed. "I'll pack a bag for me and Corey, I'll take sleeping bags too." Sam cheered happily and laughed when he heard Colby and Corey reply with a cheer of their own. 

"Put your shit in my car." Colby shouted to Elton from his room. Elton made a noise in reply and took the bags to Colby's car. 

"Guys, you might want to change, we have a small hike to get to the building from civilisation and it's hot today." Elton called up the stairs. "Me and Corey are ready, we'll wait in the car." Sam pulled his hoodie off and tugged a t-shirt on instead; he decided to leave his jeans on because he had walked through painful forests in shorts too often to make that mistake this time. Sam took a deep breath when he saw Colby leave his room, his best friend was wearing his usual ripped skinny jeans and jewellery but he had a black tank top on to fight the heat; Colby had been working out more so that he could climb into the places they explored and run away from the security or danger if need be, and it was really showing in his shoulders and arms. Sam bit his lip as he took another deep breath, Colby had walked passed his room without looking into it so he knew that his friend hadn't noticed his staring. He could hear his friends talking outside the open window and smiled to himself.

"Sam! Are you coming, bro?" Corey yelled from the car. Sam laughed at himself and grabbed his camera bag off the floor before running outside. "What were you doing in there? Jacking off?" Corey joked as Sam got into the passenger seat. He turned to Corey in the back and winked over-dramatically, causing his friends to laugh.

"We have everything?" Elton confirmed seriously. Everyone pulled their bags into their laps to check then they hummed once they were sure they had everything they'd need.

"What are we actually doing? Like, where are we going?" Corey asked after they had been driving for an hour. "Colby and Elton never actually told me where we were going, just that it was haunted." 

"Should I do the intro now?" Sam asked Colby as the other was trying to navigate a junction.

"Erm, yeah dude, you might as well." Colby replied when he was on a straight road and could concentrate on his friend. Sam nodded and pulled out his camera, he put a new SD in the camera and checked the battery before he turned it towards him and his roommates. "Ok." He muttered as he pressed record. 

"Where are we going? Where are we going? Where are we going, Sam and Colby?" Corey sang in the back, doing a little dance. "Where are we going, bro?" He asked, his voice deep. Sam laughed and waited patiently for them to calm down enough for Colby to do their intro.

"Whhaaaaaattttt's up, guys? It's Sam and Colby!" Colby yelled, taking his eyes off the road for a second to address the camera. Corey covered his ears during Colby's yell but was mimicking him jokingly for the camera.

"Today, we are here with Corey," Sam started, pointing to Elton then at Corey, "and Elton. And we are going to an abandoned hospital and orphanage. We don't actually know that much about this place yet but Elton does, and he said it was super haunted." 

"How did you manage to convince Corey to come with us? He was reluctant." Colby asked. Sam shifted in his seat so that he could film Corey and Elton. 

"I promised him that we wouldn't do the Ouija board or even bring it." Elton answered. "So, the place we're going to has a hospital and an orphanage, as Sam said. The owner said that he thinks it's more haunted than Waverly Hills, which I think is bullshit but," Elton shrugged with a chuckle. "He said he'd tell us more about about the hauntings when we get there."

"You've spoken to the owner?" Corey asked. 

"Oh, yeah. I texted him while you guys were packing to ask him if we could go in and spend the night, I told him we just wanted to explore, and he wrote me back saying that we were good to go in and stay there as long as we wanted so long as we met with him before we go in." Sam turned the camera back onto himself.

"We have permission?!" Sam asked with a smile. 

"Yep." Elton returned the grin. Colby cheered and drummed his hands on the steering wheel. 

"Yes! A legal exploration video. Love these." He said enthusiastically. Everybody laughed and cheered for the camera. 

"So, we still have like 2 hours left until we reach the area where the buildings are. I'm going to set this camera on the dashboard and have a cool montage of our road trip." Sam balanced the camera on the dashboard so that they were all in frame and so that it wouldn't fall as Colby drove then he sat back to relax for the rest of the drive. Realistically, he knew this would be a bitch to edit but he enjoyed watching these moments back and reliving it, and the fans loved seeing them all joke around and have fun. 

"When are we going to meet this guy?" Colby asked when there was a lull in their conversation. 

"The owner? He said to tell him when we were starting the hike so that he could meet us at the buildings." Elton answered after he'd paused to process the question. 

"But can we get some food first?" Corey asked with a teasing seriousness. 

"Yeah, we need to get supplies." Colby added, "We need snacks for the night." 

"We can go to McDonald's for lunch then go get snacks before we take the hike." Elton suggested. "There's one McDonald's in the town, it's quite small."

"We're like 30 minutes away now so we can drive around to look for the McDonald's when we're in the town. Then we can find somewhere to park that's close to where we're going." Colby decided.

"Elton, do you know the way to these buildings?" Sam turned to face him, the older man hadn't actually told them that he knew where they had to go to find the abandoned buildings. 

"Yes, I know the way." Elton replied defensively but there was a slight smile on his face. 

They went through the drive through at the small McDonald's when they arrived at the town and bought snacks from the gas station across the street then drove to the edge of the forest with their food. 

"I'm glad we're walking through this forest during the day, bro." Corey commented between bites. "It's dense as fuck." 

"That just means we won't be able to get away from anything that tries to attack us during the night." Elton said monotonously. 

"Elton!" The younger three men scolded in unison. Elton laughed while the others were telling him off and continued to eat without concern. Once he had finished eating, Elton texted the owner of the property to tell them that they'd be starting the hike soon. When Colby finished his food, he set the camera on the top of his car and waited for everyone to get out. Eventually, they all clambered out of the car and stood in frame, the woods looming behind them.

"Ok, guys, we are here at the edge of this forest. We've parked the car at the end of this road and are hoping that it doesn't get stolen." Sam announced to the camera. 

"We have to hike through these trees to get to this place, and it's like 93 degrees out here." Colby added seamlessly.

"And it's a 2 mile hike." Elton said. Colby groaned at the thought of a hike while Corey looked at Elton with wide eyes.

"So we have a 2 mile hike through this creepy forest to get to some creepy buildings that we're going to spend the night in and can't escape from easily?" Corey questioned. Sam and Elton grinned as Colby nodded.

"Yep." Sam replied.

"Sounds about right." Colby mumbled.

"Oh great, that's fantastic." Corey sighed sarcastically. "Well, I'm thrilled to be here." 

"Hey, at least we didn't bring the Ouija board and we're not going to do any crazy 3 am challenges in this place. It's just going to be a normal exploring video with some spooky elements." Elton reasoned. Sam shrugged and gestured to the forest.

"We have a good hike ahead of us so let's go." Sam took the camera off the car and turned it to face the car. "I have the camera bag. Colby, do you have our overnight bag?" Sam asked. Colby nodded from behind him, he leant around the blond with his hand gently resting against Sam's back and picked up their backpack. "Elton, Corey, do you have your bags and the sleeping bags?" Sam continued, cleverly ignoring the shiver that ran up his spine despite the heat of their surroundings. 

"Yeah, we have everything." Elton said. Sam flipped the camera on himself.

"Here we go."  Colby locked his car and they started to walk into the forest. 


	2. Chapter 2

"This is going to be a fucking  _hike_." Corey complained when they were a few feet from the edge of the tree line. Elton chuckled and turned around to face Corey, still making sure he didn't trip or lose his way. 

"We are literally 5 feet from the road, and it's 2 miles long." Elton said. Corey groaned dramatically and stopped walking, instead bending over and leaning on his knees to take exaggerated breaths. Sam smiled at Corey and held the camera up to record him.

"It's so hot." Corey whined.

"Oh my god, bro, you're sweating already." Sam pointed out lightly with a smile. He felt Colby move to stand behind him so he slowly turned the camera to face them with a worried expression on his face. Colby pushed his hair away from his forehead and grinned evilly. "Colby...?" Sam warned slowly. He turned to look at his friend but yelled in disgust when Colby jerked forward and wiped his own sweat across Sam's cheek. "Ew..." He whined as he tried to escape but Colby was holding him in place by his hips. "Why are you so sweaty already?!" He asked when Colby finally released him. 

"I'm wearing black, dude, we're fucking hiking in 93 degree heat. I'd be worried if I wasn't sweating right now." Colby gestured to his outfit. They continued to walk now that everyone was focused but Corey turned to Colby, while Sam automatically put the camera on the older man.

"If you're so hot..." Corey started with a fake shyness. 

"Yeah...?" Colby asked, playing along.

"If you're so hot, why don't you take your shirt off?" Corey suggested with a smirk. Colby threw his head back in a laugh but looked back to Corey. He reached back to take hold of the back of his tank but paused to take in his friend's reactions. 

"Yeah, why don't you just take it off?" Elton added. Colby grinned and tugged his shirt over his head, tucking it into his jeans once it was off. He hid his body shyly when the others started to cheer and compliment him but he was smiling at his friends. Sam let his eyes travel over Colby's newly exposed torso but tried to make sure to not stare too much, not realising that Colby caught his look. 

"Let's keep going." Colby said, pointing deeper into the forest. Sam pressed stop on his camera and dropped his arm to his side. 

They were laughing and joking, just having a good time, when they all heard a loud bang coming from behind them. 

"What was that?" Corey asked lowly. He looked at each of his friends with wide eyes as Elton whipped around in a circle, glancing over the trees. 

"We are about a mile into this hike, we've been walking for like 30 minutes. And we just heard a massive bang coming from behind us." Sam announced to the camera. He didn't look directly at it because he was too busy checking the trees with the others. He flicked the camera to each of his friends faces to catch their reactions; Elton looked concerned for them, Corey looked scared, Colby was a mix of both and Sam looked terrified but excited. 

"We've been walking kind of slowly because of the heat and it's kind of uneven but we haven't heard anything this whole time." Elton said, still looking around. 

"Do you think someone is following us?" Colby asked, ever the logical mind. "We parked on a public road and we didn't exactly sneak in here." 

"Yeah, maybe." Elton shrugged. Colby moved closer to the group, as did Corey. 

"Yeah, or it's a fucking demon coming to bite our asses." Corey snapped back. Colby slid his hand over Sam's to take the camera from him as the blond was beginning to shake. "It's broad daylight, what the fuck." 

"Yeah but it's broad daylight in a fucking forest, we barely know where we're going and there are massive trees to hide behind." Elton retorted. 

"Oh great, that's comforting." Sam groaned. "We could get attacked from anywhere and we wouldn't know it." 

"We're not going to get attacked." Colby said. Sam glared at him over the camera and turned away from Colby. "Sam, we're not going to get attacked in the middle of the day." He tried again, but firmer to try to convince the smaller man.

"You're the one that said that someone could have followed us!" Sam exclaimed. 

"That's more likely that demons." Elton reasoned calmly. Sam rolled his eyes and moved to continue walking. They followed Sam's lead, Elton walking ahead of them again since he knew the way.

"What was that?!" Corey yelled when a loud snap and crash echoed through the trees. "Oh yeah, that must just be someone who's following us, because they decided to take their fucking shed roof for a walk!" 

"Shed roof." Elton laughed, easing the tension in everyone's shoulders slightly. "We're nearly there, let's go." 

"Sam, come protect me, bro." Corey murmured. He pulled Sam to walk in front of him and cowered behind the man.

"Oh yeah, this makes sense." Elton chuckled as he pointed at them. Colby filmed them with a wheezy laugh when he finally saw Corey trying to fit his entire body behind Sam's much smaller frame. "Come on, dude, we only have like 20 minutes left of this if we hurry up a bit." 

They hesitantly moved forward but they were walking faster, Sam only tripping over branches and roots a few times. And they all breathed a sigh of relief when they came across a large clearing in the trees. 

"Oh my god." Sam said in awe when he saw the buildings. "This is amazing." He took the camera from Colby and showed the view. Colby gently pushed Sam forward into the clearing. 

Both of the buildings were made of red brick and had architecture that resembled a gothic horror, in regards to the entrance ways and the hospital's roof. All of the windows and doors were boarded up but, somehow, both buildings were in pristine condition as though they had just finished being constructed. There were a few vines and plants growing up the front of them, twisting up the plinths of the entrance and across the small roofs over the doors, but they added to the buildings aesthetic. The hospital seemed massive for the suspected demand, reaching 12 floors, but it didn't look like the floors were as big as other hospitals, while the orphanage had only 3 floors.

"This is so cool." He said as he stepped up beside the blond. 

"It's beautiful." Corey added slowly. "Too bad it's haunted!" 

"We should be meeting the owner around here somewhere." Elton said after they had admired the buildings for a moment. 

"It's massive, how are we supposed to find him?" Corey asked, forgetting that the buildings were supposed to be haunted as a new problem arose. 

"I'll text him, let's just wait here." Sam turned the camera back towards him and Colby.

"We finally made it to the hospital and orphanage, and it looks awesome. We're just waiting for the owner of this place to meet with us." Sam said with a grin. Colby subconsciously rubbed his hand over his chest then pointed towards the buildings. 

"Look at this place! We get to stay here tonight, all night." Colby grinned widely. "And we don't even need to break in." 

"That's right. Uncle Elton managed to talk the owner into letting us stay here tonight so it's not even trespassing this time. We're improving!" Sam added with a laugh.

"Oh, here he is." Elton called. Sam flipped the camera around to face the figure coming towards them but he aimed it at the man's feet respectfully. 

"Are you Elton?" The man asked. Elton stepped forward with his hand outstretched to shake his hand.

"Yeah, I'm Elton. This is Sam, Colby and Corey." Elton introduced easily. 

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mike." The owner replied with a smile. 

"You said you wanted to talk to us before we went in?" Elton asked. Mike nodded and beckoned them closer to the buildings. 

"I just wanted to give you guys more of a history about this place and give you a few warnings." Mike said and pointed to the benches for them to sit down while they spoke. "So, these we both built in the 1800's for soldiers primarily but civilians who lived in the town came here too. The doctors and nurses weren't too accommodating towards their patients and most of the patients actually died in the hospital; usually, the only ones who survived were the children and they were sent to orphanage. But, the nurses in the orphanages were trained by the nurses in the hospital so, the kids were treated badly too. Fortunately, not as many kids were killed but it did happen. The doctors in the hospital experimented on the patients in the psychiatric ward, abused women in the maternity ward, abused patients in comas, took advantage of being in positions of power whenever they could."

"Oh shit." Corey muttered. 

"People have reported hearing screams, doors slamming, shouts, whispers. You name it, people have told me they've heard it." Mike continued. 

"Great. Have people gotten hurt?" Corey asked cautiously, he didn't really want to know the answer but he did at the same time. 

"Erm, yes. They have." Mike answered with the same level of caution. Colby took a deep breath and leant back on the bench, resting his arms on the back of the bench. 

"A usual night for us then." Elton joked. They laughed nervously but nodded all the same. 

"So I do have some serious warnings though." Mike added. Sam, Colby and Corey looked at each other worriedly then turned their attention to Mike. "Ok, so, while you guys have my full permission to be here and to stay here tonight, not everyone asks and some homeless people and drug addicts do break in here. I have had the place searched for you guys and, right now, it's empty but I can't promise that it will stay that way. Also, the roof of the orphanage is hazardous and may cave in if you all try to stand up there, maybe Sam would be safe but not all of you at the same time. Other than the roof, the buildings are mostly structurally sound. There are a few walls that have caved but they won't affect the structural integrity of the building as a whole. Basically, I don't want you guys to get hurt in there so be safe. And don't let any intruders let you think you're not allowed in here or make you think that they have any superiority over you guys." 

"Thanks for letting us know." Elton said after a pause.

"Yeah, and thanks for letting us stay here and explore." Colby added softly.

"No problem, guys." Mike stood up and shook their hands. "Let me know when you leave." They watched Mike walk away after agreeing with him.

"Wait..." Sam realised, "He didn't let us in... Or tell us how to get in." 

"Trying to get in is the best part of exploring, dude." Colby said. Sam rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Off we go then." 


	3. Chapter 3

"All of these look too boarded up for us to get through and I don't want to break any of them, so let's scout out the back." Colby decided after surveying both buildings quietly. 

"Do you want to go in the hospital or the orphanage first?" Sam asked. Elton held up a finger to tell them to wait then was silent as he tapped away on his phone. 

"This says that these buildings have connecting underground tunnels so let's go through the hospital first." He said eventually.

There was a large wall around the back of the hospital that had them pausing again. 

"Give me a boost so I can see if there is a way in." Sam handed his camera to Elton and stood back to watch Colby and Corey settle themselves next to the wall. 

"Put one foot on each of our hands, we'll steady you by the back of your thighs." Colby mumbled as Sam leant against the wall. Sam nodded and lifted his legs one at a time to put his feet in their hands. He felt Corey place his hand on the back of his thigh close to his knee, then, a second later, Colby's hand gripped his thigh too. They pushed him up enough for him to peek over the wall then he tried to hold more of his weight himself. When he turned to tell everyone that there was a way in, he slipped causing Colby's hand to slide up to the top of his thigh, nearer his ass, and Corey quickly moved his hand to hold his back so he didn't fall backwards. Sam blushed deeply at Colby's grasp but leant back into it as he stepped off Corey's hand and he held onto Colby's shoulder as he stepped off Colby's hand. 

"Thanks." He said sincerely. "There is a way in over there but we're going to have to find a way to get over this wall." He turned away from Colby, hoping that his best friend didn't see his red face. Again, he didn't see that Colby had noticed and had a small smirk on his face. 

"There's some concrete blocks over there we can use them." Elton pointed to the side towards the back of the orphanage. 

"Well, you three can go ahead." Sam smiled as he took the camera out of Elton's hands and faced the three men. They all looked at him with blank looks on their faces but they quickly grinned and moved to get the blocks. They grabbed two blocks each to carry them to the wall, and stacked them until they made stable steps.

"I'll go over first to film you guys coming over." Elton decided, already climbing up the steps and hopping over. Corey took the camera before he climbed up then he dangled it over for Elton to grab. 

"Aw, we can't film their butts if we do it like this." Corey whined jokingly. They laughed at his joke as Corey pulled himself over the wall. "Oh shit!" He called, "It's a bigger drop that I thought." 

"Corey, grab that table so Sam doesn't break his legs." Elton said. Corey called back to Sam and Colby once the table was in place to tell them to hop over. 

"You know, I'm only an inch shorter than you, Elton." Sam called over the wall. Elton laughed and shook his head.

"Bet you tell yourself that a lot, huh Sam?" He teased. Sam briefly glared half-heartedly through the wall but laughed at his own expense.

"You go first." Colby said. Sam nodded and stepped up on the blocks.

"Hand me your bag, I'll toss it over." Sam held his hand out for the bag and threw both of them over the wall. Then he looked at where he was stood in relation to the top of the wall. "I'm not strong enough to pull myself up from this angle, the block's too close." He hoped that was a good enough excuse.

"I'll push you up." Sam smiled to himself as he heard Colby step up on the first block and plant his feet down so he could push Sam up by his hips. Sam steadied his arms on the top of the wall and pushed his feet against the wall for leverage, he blushed again when he felt Colby move one of his hands to cover one of his ass cheeks and push him up over the wall. He bit his lip to stifle the happy noise that threatened to escape his throat and scrambled over the wall, landing carefully on the table. Sam swallowed thickly when Colby pulled himself up easily. 

"We should find a room for us to set up in when we want to camp out and put our shit in it." Elton said once Colby was safe on the ground. Sam took the camera from Elton but looked up at the building.

"Is it a good idea to just leave our stuff in a room?" Sam asked cautiously. Colby picked up their back packs and started towards the hospital. "Colby." Sam called softly when Colby leant into the building.

"I don't hear anything." Colby looked at his friends. Sam shook his head at his best friend and lifted his camera. 

"This hospital is massive, it has like 12 floors." Sam said to the camera. "So we should probably put our stuff of the top floor if we are going to leave it." 

"Let's just go straight to the top first then we can explore." Elton suggested as he headed to the door. 

"Weird that this is the only door that isn't boarded up." Colby commented as they entered the hospital. 

"Well he doesn't seem that bothered by people being in here if they ask him." Corey murmured. 

"And there's a massive wall you have to scale to get in here." Sam added. 

"Holy fuck, this place is huge." Corey said as they walked down the corridor. The doors to the doctor's and patient's rooms were closed but there were beds and chairs littering the hallways. 

"We need to try and find the stairs." Sam pulled out the torches, handed one to each person, and turned on the camera light. "Do you think we'll need our masks?" Sam asked, leaning around to look at Colby. 

"If it gets too dusty then we can put them on but I don't think we need them right now." Colby answered.

"I just had a thought." Elton whispered as they ventured further into the hospital. 

"That's never good." Corey muttered. 

"Well I just thought, this hospital is so big that, even if Mike did have it searched before we came here, someone could still be hiding in here." Elton whispered. Everybody froze, realisation washing over them. They listened carefully for any movement beside their own. A loud crash echoed down the halls and scared them.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Colby whispered.

"What did you do?" Elton whisper yelled. Colby laughed and pointed down at the chair that he had run into. 

"Colby." Corey scolded him with a smile. They waited their hearts to calm down then continued to look for the stairs. "Oh dude, here's the stairs." Corey called back to them after looking through a door. They made quick work of climbing the stairs to the 12th floor then looked for a room that was completely empty and had a door. 

"Ok guys, we've made it up to the 12th floor." Sam panted as he flopped down on the floor. 

"We're all out of breath, even though we walked quite slowly up the stairs." Colby said, leaning into frame.

"So we found this room that we can hold the door closed so that no one can get us while we sleep." Sam explained.

"And we are going to be staying here until 9 am. Not 5 am, 9. No matter what. And it's 2:48 pm now." Elton added. "So let's set up our room for the night and let's chill for a bit." Sam put the camera down and turned to Elton to watch him lay the big sleeping bag out on the floor. Corey pulled all of their blankets out of his bag and laid them down too. "I don't think it'll be too cold because the windows are boarded shut and there's no draughts." 

They sat around the room, looking at their phones and watching YouTube. Sam looked over his phone to look at Colby, who was laying on the sleeping bag and scrolling through his own phone. While he knew that Colby was distracted, Sam let his eyes wander over Colby's body and his mind wander too. 

"Sam, do you want to go explore now?" Colby asked, finally looking up from his phone. Sam quickly snapped his eyes away from Colby, not realising that Corey had been watching him. 

"Yeah, pass me the camera." Colby handed Sam the camera and crawled over to sit next to his best friend. 

"We've been here for about two hours, just chilling, sitting here and watching YouTube on our phones." Colby said with a grin. "Nothing's really happened yet, we haven't heard anything while we've been here but we haven't left this room either." 

"So we're going to start exploring now." Sam said, he picked up his phone to show the camera the time on his phone. "It's 4:52 pm right now and it should be dark out now." 

"We are going to make our way down through the hospital, starting with this floor. Then we'll go through the basement to get through to the orphanage." Colby explained. They grabbed their torches and their exploring bag before they looked around for a way to keep the door shut. 

"We're on the opposite side of the hospital to the stairs so let's head that way but go down all the corridors that we bypassed to get here." Elton stepped out of the room and turned his torch on, shining it down the hall. 

"Let's go." Sam whispered. 

"Why are you whispering, bro?" Corey wheezed. Sam laughed with his friend and looked away from him.

"I don't know, whenever we go to these places and they're silent, I just feel like I need to whisper." He answered with a smile. 

"Yeah, until you hear something and start yelling 'hello'." Colby teased. Sam stuck his tongue out at him and lifted the camera up. 

"Ok, guys, we're starting our exploration of this hospital. From the, like, 4 rooms we've passed, I'd say that this floor was the psychiatric ward." Sam filmed the dark corridor, their flashlights cutting through the dark randomly as they looked around. 

"This is where we belong." Corey joked easily. "We do a lot of crazy shit... What the fuck was that?!" A faint scream reached them as Corey said 'crazy' and they froze, looking around while backing into a small huddle.  Sam jumped when he felt a hand on his back but relaxed upon feeling Colby. He hesitantly turned the camera on the group; he was glad that it couldn't see that Colby was holding his waist slightly, instead it just looked like Colby was standing right behind him.

"Should we keep going?" Sam whispered. 

"I don't want to." Corey murmured. Elton pointed further down a hall to the right of them.

"It came from down there." He said. Immediately, he started towards where the sound came from without looking back to see if they had followed him. Colby stepped around Sam to follow Elton while Sam and Corey stared at them like they were crazy. 

"How are they so casual about walking towards shit like that?" Sam whispered, his camera held to face them. 

"Are you coming?" Elton called back.

"Er, yeah, we're right behind you." Corey answered as he shook his head to Sam and the camera. They took a deep breath and reluctantly followed Colby and Elton to the end of the hall. 

"Dude." Elton said lowly as Corey and Sam entered the room. 

"What?" Sam asked. The room was completely empty bar one small, metal plaque laying in the middle of the room. "What does it say?" Elton picked the plaque up and read it. 

" _Edith Wright, Danger Warning, Enter With Caution._ " Elton read. Sam moved closer to film the plaque and show the writing. 

"Oh my god, this place was awful." Corey groaned. "They had a danger warning for someone with a mental illness, how disturbed do you have to be to treat a human being like that?"

"Right, this place is messed up." Colby agreed. Elton gently placed the plaque on the floor again. "And that scream came from in here." 

"How do you know?" Sam asked softly. Colby glanced at Elton and then at Sam, ignoring the camera. 

"We heard crying when we got in here before we called you." He admitted. Sam's eyes widened and he backed out of the room. 

"Let's just keep going." He suggested quietly. Colby saw the fear in his friend's eyes and agreed easily. Corey followed them quickly and Elton soon joined them in the corridor. 

"11 floors to go." Elton announced as they reached the stairs. "I think we chose the best floor to stay on to be honest, and we haven't even seen the other floors yet." 

"The best floor?!" Corey exclaimed. "We just heard someone scream and cry, are you serious?" 

"Yeah, but it's the emptiest." Elton replied. They wandered through a few floors without event but the 6th floor had them moving as a pack once again. 

"Where did it come from?" Corey asked in a whisper. Sam reached forward blindly and tried to hold onto Colby's shirt before he realised that Colby was still bare so he dropped his hand to the hem of his pants. "They're coming from all the rooms around us, every time we move, the sounds move with us, bro." Colby reached back and took Sam's hand from his pants and held it in his own instead. Sam laid his other hand on Colby's bare back and shuffled close, not caring that his friends would see because he was too scared and Corey was on Colby's other side cowering close too. 

"Sammy, pick up the camera, you'll be less afraid." Colby murmured. Sam nodded and pulled the camera up. 

"Ok, we're hearing some crazy loud noises on this floor. Corey and I are holding onto Colby for dear life. Elton doesn't give a shit, he's just exploring and looking for where we heard them." Sam announced to the camera, his voice was shaking and he knew it was but he just powered through it. He didn't care if their fans saw him scared.

"We've heard doors slam, screaming, fucking wailing." Corey said, "And we have no clue where it's coming from other than it being on this floor." 

"Hey guys," Elton called from a room off the hall, "I just realised what floor we're on." Elton appeared in front of them with his phone in his hand. He took their silence as a cue to continue. "We're on the sixth floor, and this was the maternity ward." Sam slowly turned his camera to film their shocked reactions. They stayed silent for a while as they took in the information but a distant crash had them whipping around to face the stairs. 

"That sounded like a person. A real, alive person." Corey whispered. 

"That sounded like someone did the same as I did with the chair." Colby said softly. 

"We should go and make sure no one is actually in here." Elton decided for them.

"No the fuck we shouldn't." Corey protested seriously. Sam agreed and stepped back away from the stairs but Elton was already heading down the stairwell with Colby following behind him.

"Ok, guys, this may be the last time you ever see us so, if this video is found footage, we died because Colby and Elton decided that they were going to find the danger." Sam whispered to the camera before taking a deep breath and following them down the stairs.

"What floor do you think it came from?" Sam asked and they slowly made their way down the stairs. 

"It came from one of the bottom two floors, for sure." Elton said, "Sam, hand me the camera." Without question, Sam handed Elton the camera and quickly stepped back behind Elton and Colby. 

"I'm starting to miss the safety of our asylum room." Sam whined as they continued to walk down further. Corey chuckled nervously behind them. 

"Come on, we'll work from the stairs and go forward so that if anyone is on this floor they'll be cornered." Elton murmured while he slowly pushed open the door to the second floor. 

"This is a stupid idea." Corey grumbled as they stepped over the threshold. 

"It's 4 against 1, we outnumber them." Elton argued quietly. 

"Watch us get stabbed now." Corey whispered, leaning over Colby slightly so that the camera's microphone could definitely hear him. Sam giggled behind his hand then followed Colby and Elton through to the corridor. 

They cleared the 2nd floor in tense silence and they became more apprehensive when they found nothing. Even Elton was hesitant as they headed down to the 1st floor.

"If there's anyone in here, they're definitely down here." Colby said as they reached the last step. 

"There's still the basement." Elton said as they checked the first room. 

"If the guy that own's the place couldn't find someone hiding, why would we be able to?" Sam whispered in question. 

"Shit, he's right. And they're not about to just walk out and announce themselves to us." Corey stopped in his tracks, refusing to move.

"It doesn't feel like were alone anymore." Sam said, "Like it feels different now than it did 2 hours ago when we were down here." 

"It does." Corey agreed. They stayed still, looking down the corridor for movement and listening for sounds. Corey suddenly scrambled backwards into one of the open doors, dragging everyone back with him. "Did you guys not hear that?"  Corey exclaimed when he saw his friends' bewildered expressions. 

"Hear what?" Colby asked lowly. Corey shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"The fucking door slam and talking." Corey snapped. Sam dropped the camera to his side and backed up until he hit a wall. 

"So what's the plan?" Sam whispered, his grip tight on the tripod. 

"I think we should camp here for like 20 minutes then go to the basement and go across to the orphanage." Elton whispered. Sam sighed and lifted the camera.

"Change of plans, guys. We're going to hide in this room for a bit then we're heading straight to the orphanage. We completely missed the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors but that can wait because we don't want to be here right now." Sam said softly. 

"We've come to the conclusion that, if someone was here, we wouldn't be able to find them." Colby leant into frame but kept his eyes on the darkened door. They switched their flashlights off, leaving the camera light only, and listened. Light footsteps passed the door and everyone held their breaths in fright. 

"Was that a person?" Corey whispered, almost silently. 

"It sounded like an actual person." Elton replied just as quietly. They heard the stairs creak then the floorboards above them creaked as though someone was walking over them, they followed the creaks blindly above them and reached out for each other. "Let's go. Colby, don't trip over any chairs." Elton stood up slowly and stuck his head out the door. The light from the open door barely lit the hallway but it was enough for Elton to look down the corridor. "Come on. Quietly." They carefully left the room and crept through the halls, they daren't even turn on their flashlights or whisper. 

The descent down to the basement was tense and silent, their breaths were inaudible as they lightly stepped down the concrete stairs. 

"Just find the door to the tunnels so we can get out of here." Corey whispered when he saw the others trying to explore the basement. 

"Over here." Sam called out. Corey and Elton joined him at the far end of the basement but Colby didn't. "Colby, come on." Sam beckoned nervously. They heard him shuffle but he didn't come towards them. 

"Colby, come on, dude." Corey tried after a few minutes of waiting. Colby hummed in response but still didn't move. "Quit playing, come on." There was another moment of stillness before Colby finally joined them. Sam glared at his best friend and opened the door to the tunnel without a word. They shone their lights down the tunnel and Sam bravely began to march through it. He didn't look to see if everyone was following him, he just heard their footsteps behind them. 

"Sam, slow down, dude." Colby said from behind him, his voice carrying through the tunnel. 

"Shut up, Colby." Sam snapped. Colby chuckled behind his hand and glanced at Corey and Elton. Corey raised an eyebrow at the younger man but Colby just shrugged. 

"Shut that door." Elton directed when Colby entered the orphanage behind them. "We should prop it closed so that no one can follow us." They looked around with their torches for something to hold the door shut. Colby dragged a filing cabinet across the room and pushed it against the door. 

"Ok, that feels so much better." Corey sighed in relief. Everyone agreed and took their own deep breaths to calm themselves. 

"We're in the orphanage now, we came through the tunnels and have shoved a cabinet against the door. So if that was a person, they aren't coming in and, hopefully, they'll be gone by the time we go back over there to explore the first 5 floors properly." Sam said to the camera, it felt weird for him to speak normally after being silent/quiet for so long. 

"This building is a lot smaller so it shouldn't take too long." Colby said. They exited the orphanage basement and started to look around the first floor. 

"Dude." Corey said awestruck at the sight of the first floor. The previously dividing walls were gone, leaving one completely open room. 

"What do you think it was?" Colby asked. They all looked around the room in thought, observing the sparse furniture. 

"I think this was the living room area," Elton said, gesturing to the room they were stood in. "And that was the dining room." He pointed to the far end of the room. They wandered around the room, picking up papers and reading them. The house was was silent beyond their breathing and the rustling of paper, they were all relaxed and calm as they looked through the room. Suddenly, Sam's phone began to ring loudly, echoing through the corridors and scaring everyone. Colby hurriedly took the camera from Sam and filmed Sam's phone. 

"Why isn't your phone on silent?" Corey asked as Sam stared blankly at his phone screen. 

"It is." Sam returned, he turned his phone on its side to show that the sound was switched off. 

"Answer it." Elton urged. Corey frowned and shook his head, backing away from them.

"No, that's stupid." He argued. "Remember when that happened in Biltmore, Griffith Park and Mission Inn?" Sam's phone kept ringing, longer than it usually would, than it should. 

"Just answer it." Elton tried again. Sam shrugged and answered the call, putting it on speaker. 

"Hello?" Sam asked, "Who is this?" They listened to the call and froze when someone answered.

"Help us." A tinny, young boy's voice came through the speakers. Sam quickly hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket. 

"What the fuck?" Colby asked. "Who was that?" 

"I don't know, it just said 'No Caller ID'." Sam said.

"It sounded like a kid." Corey mumbled. Elton frowned as he thought then stepped back, his jaw dropped in shock.

"It sounded like a little boy." Elton started, "And where are we?" Everyone backed up. 

"No, no, no, no, no." Sam rambled.

"We're in the fucking orphanage, bro." Corey finally answered. As they were all reeling in shock, a door slammed above them followed by light footsteps. 

"We should go up there." Colby said, turning the camera on himself. 

"You're crazy." Corey shook his head but followed Colby to the stairs. 

"Come on, there's only 3 floors. We have to go up." Colby shrugged. He went up the stairs first, listening for the others following him and any other noises from upstairs. He turned to talk to the group but he felt hands on his stomach, pushing him backwards. He stumbled and fell down a few steps, his body dragging across the wall as he tried to save himself. 

"Colby, are you ok?" Sam asked from behind him. As he went to reply, he felt a hot sensation down his side and arm. He ignored the pain he was feeling and climbed the rest of the stairs before collapsing on the nearest stable-looking chair. "Colby?" Sam asked, concerned for his friend. Without a word, Colby lifted his left arm to show them an 8 inch cut on his side and the smaller cut on his upper arm.

"Oh god, dude, are you ok?" Corey asked. They all knelt around Colby to look at the wound, 

"What happened?" Elton asked as he rummaged through the bag he had brought with him. Colby handed Sam the camera and gestured for him to film. 

"I was just walking up the stairs and I felt something push me." Colby explained, trying to look at his side to see the cut. Elton pulled his arm back down.

"Don't do that, you'll make it worse." Elton said seriously. 

"What pushed you?" Sam asked. He moved the camera to focus on the marks but he was knelt between Colby's legs so he handed the camera to Corey. 

"It felt like small, ice cold hands on my stomach." Colby said. Corey focused the camera on Colby's face and the marks without showing where Sam was knelt. Sam frowned, clearly concerned, and put his hands on Colby's thighs. 

"Are you alright?" Sam asked. Colby looked at Sam and nodded.

"Yeah, it just kind of made me want to throw up." Colby sighed. Elton handed Colby a water bottle and told him to shush while he cleaned and covered the cuts. Colby hissed when Elton wiped the cuts, dropping his chin to his chest. Sam squeezed Colby's thighs comfortingly. 

"Are you good to keep going?" Elton asked. "They aren't too deep so they should be alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Colby whispered. He stayed with his head still bowed. Sam glanced at Corey and Elton, who nodded and shuffled away. 

"Colby, are you sure you're ok to carry on? We can come back another day if you feel like you need to." Sam said softly. He could see Corey filming Elton behind them but the camera wasn't facing them; Sam had a feeling Corey was purposely filming away from them. 

"No, no. We don't need to leave. I'm fine, I promise." Colby shook his head. Sam frowned and brushed the hair off Colby's forehead so he could see the brunette's face. 

"Ok." Sam nodded. He stood up and joined Corey down the corridor. 

"These were all of their rooms." Corey mentioned, handing Sam his camera. 

"Oh cool."  Sam replied. Colby groaned as he stood then walked slowly over to Sam. "I don't know if we showed what happened but I'm going to explain it either way. Colby just fell down some of the stairs and cut up his side a little bit, he's ok but I'm going to make him take it slow." 

"I didn't fall." Colby argued. Sam turned the camera on Colby. "Something pushed me. Like, I know I fall over things sometimes but I'm not about to risk causing you guys injury by falling down the damn stairs." 

"Elton?" Corey called. Sam and Colby turned, confused.

"I thought Elton was with you?" Sam asked. Corey shook his head and looked around. 

"Well, he's not." Corey said bluntly. 

"Where'd he go?" Sam mumbled. They glanced in the rooms on either side of where they were stood but they couldn't see him.

"Elton?!"


	4. Chapter 4

"How does he move so damn quietly?" Colby asked. They crept down the hall, listening for Elton moving even they knew that he could be really good at hiding when he wanted too. 

"Elton, now is not the time for messing around." Corey called. They reached the end of the hall and frowned.

"This is the only way he could have come, he didn't walk past us." Sam stated. Again, they stood in silence, just listening, confused. 

"Elton?" Corey tried again. Nothing. 

"He's going to be in one of these rooms." Sam said with a shrug. Colby looked down the hallway then pointed to a small door that they had overlooked on the way down. Slowly, Colby inched towards the door while Sam filmed and Corey stayed back. Colby carefully opened the small door to find nothing but empty shelves and one thick book.

"Nothing." Colby confirmed. Corey frowned. They all screamed when Elton jumped out of the room opposite the small door. 

"Elton!" They scolded in unison. Elton cackled and bent over, clutching his stomach with laughter. 

"Jesus, Elton." Corey huffed after a minute. Elton chuckled again then stepped out of the room. 

"What was that book though?" Sam asked once he felt his heart rate decrease slightly. Colby reopened the small door and pulled the book out. He took it back to the chair and set it down with a dull thud. 

"What is it?" Corey asked from behind Colby. The younger man opened the book to a random page and began reading. 

"It's a record book of all the kids they had here." Colby explained once he'd read a few lines. "It has their name, when they joined the orphanage, what happened to their parents, if they were ill. There's loads of stuff in here about them."

"No wonder it's such a big book." Elton commented. Colby continued to flick through the book aimlessly as Sam and Corey walked back to the rooms to film them, Elton leant over the banister to look down at the main hallway that they had missed before. 

"Elijah Wright, 1864; son of Edith and Charles Wright, mother admitted after father died of fatal battle wounds, mild pneumonia with full recovery, moved to the main town 1882, died in mining accident 1896." Colby muttered to himself, only just loud enough for Elton to hear him.

"Edith Wright?" Elton asked as soon as the name registered in his mind.

"Yeah." Colby turned to look at Elton. "What?" Colby asked when he noticed Elton's frown. He glanced around, looking for Sam and Corey but he heard them talking in a room down the hall.

"Edith Wright was the name of the patient in that room, with the warning." Elton explained. Colby gasped in realisation. 

"Sam." Colby called, "I found something." He heard Sam shuffle in the room then he emerged with the camera down. "No, turn the camera on." 

"What is it?" Sam asked once he'd turned the camera back on. 

"You remember the room that me and Elton found that plaque in?" Sam nodded then focused on the page that Colby had open. "This kid, Elijah Wright, was the son of the patient who stayed in that room. What if she wasn't crazy at all?"

"What do you mean?" Corey asked. 

"It says that Elijah's mother was admitted to the hospital after her husband died which was why Elijah was given to the orphanage. I can only imagine how it feels to have your child taken away from you after your husband just died and then being locked in a psychiatric ward. It makes sense that she was screaming and crying." Colby said. "She just wanted her baby. She was angry that her baby was taken away from her and that she was locked up with a fucking danger warning." 

"That's insane." Sam muttered. Colby nodded in agreement and flicked through the book again. "So maybe a lot of the people were like Edith in the psychiatric ward." 

"It's not impossible, especially back then." Elton agreed. 

"These are just bedrooms, let's go to the next floor." Corey pointed out. It wasn't until they reached the 3rd floor that they saw a caved in part of the roof. "Sam, you're up." Corey hopped down a few stairs to let Sam get to the roof. 

"I've got to go on there?" Sam asked apprehensively. 

"Mike said that you're the only one that should." Colby shrugged. Sam sighed and stared at the roof sadly. 

"God dang it." Sam grumbled. He turned to Colby and handed him the camera before he stepped onto the roof. "If I fall through the roof... Make sure you film it." Colby and Corey laughed at Sam but Elton watched as Sam cautiously stepped onto the roof, stopping whenever he felt the roof buckle slightly beneath him.

"Be careful, Sam." Elton called seriously when Sam's foot fell through the roof. 

"Uncle Elton made a special appearance for this video." Colby joked. He kept his camera focused on Sam but was ready to risk his safety too to try and limit Sam's injuries if he did start to fall through the roof.

"I don't know why you two aren't more worried for your best friend's safety right now." Elton frowned, he was watching Sam and the roof carefully to make sure that he didn't fall or the roof didn't cave. "Ok, Sam, come back now." He beckoned when he saw a beam under Sam fall the the floor below. 

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Sam muttered. He made his way back as quickly as he could and froze again, a few feet away from the stairs, when he felt the roof creak underneath him. 

"You're going to have to jump." Corey said softly. Sam looked up at his friends, genuine fear in his eyes. 

"I-I don't think I can." He stuttered. Colby laid the camera on the step behind him and reached out for Sam. 

"Hey, hey, Sam, look at me." Colby mumbled. Sam gripped Colby's hands tightly and looked at his best friend, tears starting to form. 

"I'm scared." Sam whispered, the roof cracking loudly beneath his feet. Corey and Elton reached forward too and held onto Sam's wrists. 

"It's ok, we've got you. Just shuffle forward." Colby replied reassuringly. Sam swallowed the lump in his throat and started to shuffle forward, barely moving his feet so that his weight wouldn't change on the roof too much. "Just jump, you're closer now, just jump it." With a glance at his feet, Sam leapt from the roof to the metal doorway of the stairs, the others pulled as he jumped to make sure he made it. He fell into Colby's arms, gripping tightly to try and ground himself. A loud crack from the roof formed a dent in the support beams where Sam had just been stood. 

"Holy shit." Elton breathed through a relieved laugh. 

"That was like an action movie." Corey said with a smile. 

"That was scary." Sam laughed once he was sure he was safe. 

"You're so strange." Elton muttered as he started back down the stairs. 

"How are you terrified of real life situations and not of demons and ghosts?" Corey questioned. Colby picked up the camera and followed them down the stairs.

"Real life can hurt and/or kill me, demons and ghosts barely talk to me." Sam answered simply. 

"I disagree, in real life, you can defend yourself. How are you about to defend yourself from something you can't see?" Colby chipped in. Elton nodded in agreement. 

"Well, it's easy not to be scared when you don't believe in it." Sam shrugged. Corey looked at Sam with wide eyes before his face scrunched up in disbelief.

"How can you still not believe?" He asked, shock evident in his tone. 

"I mean I don't believe it can hurt us." Sam explained. "I don't think there's anything more to see here." Sam announced when they reached the first floor again. Colby passed Sam the camera as though it was second nature and moved up next to him, gesturing for Corey and Elton to step into frame. 

"We've explored this entire orphanage and Sam nearly fell through the roof. So we're going to head back over to the hospital and check out the five floors we missed then we'll probably just hang out in our camp for a while." Colby said to the camera. Sam packed the camera in his backpack then lead the way to the basement. 

"Wait." Corey said before Elton and Colby could move the filing cabinet. 

"What?" Colby asked, frozen in place. 

"The door is pushed open." Corey pointed out. Sure enough, the door, that had once been completely closed, was now open enough for someone to squeeze through. 

"What the fuck." Elton muttered. Colby slid through the gap and looked around just outside the door. 

"Hey, grab that wire there. We can tie the door shut on this side so they shouldn't be able to open the door." Colby explained softly. They didn't know if someone was even in there, let alone where they were. Corey handed Colby the wire then, one by one, they slipped through the door. 

"There's a metal loop here." Elton said. Colby nodded and silently tied the wire around the door handle then around the metal loop, making sure that the tension in the wire was too great for the door to be opened. Once he was sure that the knots were sufficient, they stepped back to look at the door before they turned to walk back through the tunnel. But footsteps and a rattling sound had them stopping again. They turned simultaneously and watched, scared, as the door handle turned and someone tried to open the door. 

"Good job, Colby." Corey whispered when the door wouldn't move even a millimetre. They quietly rushed down the tunnel and closed the door behind them.

"Let's block this door too." Sam suggested. They slid a chair under the door handle along with as many heavy things they could find. 

"I don't think anyone will be able to get through this." Elton decided after a few minutes of stacking. 

"Let's check out the last few floors." Colby cheered with renewed excitement. 

"Bro, it's the morgue." Corey called through the basement. Sam wandered to Corey, swinging his bag off his shoulder so he could grab his camera. 

"This is a big morgue." Sam commented in shock. He panned the camera around the room, pausing on the morgue's refrigerators and the autopsy tables. 

"A lot of people died here." Elton appeared from nowhere to announce. 

"Dude, the equipment is still here." Corey said pulling Sam's attention away from an open fridge drawer. 

"At least it's clean." Sam's voice was slightly high pitched in his uncertainty. 

"But why is it laid out like this?" Elton asked sceptically. Colby finally entered the morgue and started to look around.

"There's only offices in the rest of the basement." He said off-handedly. "What's this?" He asked pointing at a dark red/brown stain. 

"I think that might be blood." Elton answered reluctantly. Colby stepped away with wide eyes and pointed to the door. 

"Let's go." The others agreed and hurried out of the basement. 

"Do you reckon we should shut that one too?" Corey asked as they passed the door they had used to enter the hospital. 

"Do you think whoever's in the orphanage will make it out?" Sam questioned worriedly. 

"It's completely boarded up and we blocked both doorways." Colby shrugged. Elton nodded in agreement and encouraged them to continue down the hall. 

"I think this is just the doctor's offices and the outpatients ward." Elton said. They didn't bother going into each office as, when they looked in through the door, they had been cleared out and the ward's curtains had been ripped down. 

The next three floors were a mess of curtains, bed frames and broken equipment but there was still nothing exciting to look at or film. But the 5th floor was different. Instead of the single, vast ward with a few separate rooms at the end, the 5th floor consisted completely of separate rooms. 

"Why is this floor so well preserved?" Sam asked as they started to look through the rooms. Each room was nearly identical in it's set up; there was a bed, the ECG machine, an IV drip hanger, a chair, a dresser, a beside table and a TV mounted in the corner. 

"I think this was the coma ward." Elton whispered. Everyone cringed in disgust when they remembered what Mike had told them about the coma patients. 

"Can we just go back up to the 12th floor please?" Sam asked already backing up towards the stairwell. Recognising that Sam was uncomfortable, the others agreed easily. Colby took the camera to stop recording. 

Elton barricaded their door while Sam pulled his headphones out and settled against the wall with his phone. Colby watched him with concern but left his best friend alone, instead focused on pulling his shirt back on. Corey pulled out all the blankets then started to rummage through the snack bag. 

"Guys, I brought my laptop. We could watch Netflix if you want." Elton suggested. Colby and Corey 'ooo'd and moved to sit next to Elton so that they could see the laptop screen. 

"Sam." Colby said gently, nudging Sam's leg with his foot. "You wanna watch Netflix with us?" Sam thought about it for a moment, just watching the video on his phone for a few minutes before he took his earphones out and put his phone on the sleeping bag. Sam leant into Colby's side while Elton started to look for something for them to watch. "You okay?" Colby whispered to Sam, he knew that Corey and Elton could hear him because they were so close but they were pretending not to hear him. 

"Yeah, I just don't like that there's someone else here." Sam replied softly. Colby frowned and wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulders to pull him closer.

"We don't know 100% that someone else is here, and if they followed us to the orphanage, I don't see them getting through both doors." Colby murmured, "And Elton's right, there's four of us and one of them, what can they do, really?" 

"I know but what if they do get in and do something while we're sleeping?" Sam asked. Colby stood up suddenly and pulled Sam with him.

"We'll be right back." He said. He took Sam's hand and lead him out of the room. Once they were stood in the hallway, Colby stopped. "I honestly don't think that whoever that is will be able to get past the first door, I tied it up tight. We saw that they couldn't open it. If they somehow manage it, I doubt they have enough strength to push through all the shit we put against the second door. Then we have 12 floors between us and them. They don't know what floor we're on, they don't know that we're still here, and we block our door too." Colby started. Sam shook his head nervously and turned to look down the dark corridor. "Hey, hey, look at me. Do you honestly think that we'll let anything bad happen? That I will let anything bad happen?"

"It's not about letting though, what if something happens that you guys can't stop?" Sam asked.

"What do you mean?" Sam shrugged and curled his arms around himself.

"Everything keeps happening to me. What if something happens while you're sleeping and you can't help?" Colby frowned again and glanced over Sam's shoulder.

"We're going to have cameras rolling all night, Elton told me he brought his camera so we can film it. And if anything does happen to you, scream. Scream for us." Colby said. Sam groaned then whipped around when a bang echoed down the hall. He stumbled back, falling into Colby's arms as he tried to get away. 

"Fuck, I forgot this place was haunted too." Sam whined. Colby chuckled softly and held Sam close. 

"Thought you weren't scared of ghosts?" Colby teased lightly. Sam giggled and buried his face in Colby's shoulder. 

"This place is too creepy." Sam relaxed into Colby's hold, his eyes falling shut. He wished he could stay in Colby's arms for longer, that he could find his way there more often but he didn't see that happening, so he enjoyed it while he could. 

"Come on, let's go and distract ourselves with Netflix." Colby murmured after a few minutes of silence. Sam reluctantly nodded then walked back into the room. 

"Everything ok?" Elton asked when they returned to their places on the sleeping bag. 

"Yeah, we're good." Colby reassured with a nod. Elton looked between them suspiciously but shrugged it off when Colby shook his head for him to drop it. "We found something to watch." They settled down, leaning against the wall and against each other. Corey handed out the snacks and drinks and they all relaxed as the movie started. 

Down the hall, a door slowly swung open. A bed rolled through the now open door before slamming against the opposite wall. Distant voices, coming from the far end of the floor, raised in panic before the barricade was pulled away and the door opened, flashlights flicking through the dark. 

"What the fuck?" Corey whispered urgently. "What was that?" Sam quickly grabbed his camera to explain what was happening. 

"We've been chilling in the room for about an hour and a half, it's about 10 pm now. And we just heard something crash down this hall way." Sam said. "So we're about to go and find out what it was." They were very hesitant about walking down corridor, scared of what they were going to find. 

"No. No, no, no, no, no. No way." Corey rambled. Everyone turned on him confused; they hadn't seen what he had, they had been looking in the rooms either side of him. Corey stood fixed in place, his eyes were wide and watering and his flashlight was pointing at something in the hallway. 

"What?" Elton asked. He stared down the hallway, trying to see what Corey was seeing, but he couldn't see anything so he continued down the hall to get closer. "Holy shit." He exclaimed. "Corey found what the bang was." 

"What was it?" Colby asked.

"There's a bed across the hall." Elton said in disbelief. Sam and Colby made varying noises of their own disbelief. Colby took the camera from Sam and marched forward to film the bed.

"Holy crap, what the hell?" He muttered. He leant over the bed and filmed the room. "It's empty in there." 

"I thought all of these rooms were empty?" Elton remembered. "When we looked in them earlier, every room had nothing in." 

"How the fuck did a bed get in there?" Corey asked. 

"No, there were a few rooms with beds in." Sam interjected confidently. Colby hummed his confirmation but continued to look into the room. 

"Ok, so something just tossed their bed out of their room." Elton commented. "That's less weird than a ghost transporting a bed into the room." 

"Yes, a ghost throwing a bed through a door, that's normal." Corey grumbled. Colby chuckled and finally moved away from the door. 

"This is normal for us now." Elton laughed. Corey froze in realisation and smiled at the camera nervously.

"Oh shit." Everyone laughed lightly. "Let's go back, I don't wanna keep coming out here every time we hear something, it's too fucking creepy." Corey marched back to their camp without waiting to see if the others were following him and he daren't turn to see if the footsteps were them. 

"I agree with him. It's going to get tiring to keep coming out every time we hear something, we have been hearing things all night and haven't gone to check them out." Elton said as they walked back to the room behind Corey. "Are you telling Devyn that you might die?" Elton teased easily once they were safe in their room. 

"I was, yeah." Corey started with a laugh, "Devyn said that Navi has been running around the house and barking at our doors randomly." Corey turned his phone to face them to show them the video Devyn sent him. The video showed Devyn following Navi as she ran from each of their rooms, barking angrily at each door. "Oh Devyn text me again, apparently Navi is laying outside Sam's room, growling down the corridor." 

"Oh great, that makes me super happy." Sam muttered sarcastically. Elton laughed and retook his place behind the laptop. Colby patted Sam on the shoulder then rummaged through Elton's bag to get his camera and set it up in the corner of the room. 

"Do you want me to stay awake until you fall asleep?" Colby whispered to Sam once they were all sat in front of the laptop. Sam nodded, his eyes focused on the laptop screen. 

They watched Netflix for hours, all wrapped up in their blankets, until their eyes started to droop. Noises had continued to reach them but they simply ignored it in favour of watching the movie, turning the sound up to try and drown them out. Corey fell asleep first, slipping down the wall and curling up next to Elton. Colby handed Elton one of the pillows to put under Corey's head then got the other 3 for them. Sam fell asleep next, after fighting with himself to stay awake. He laid as close to Colby as he could, his head resting against Colby's thigh. 

"Do you think that the guy will be able to get in here?" Colby asked softly when he was sure Corey and Sam were sleeping.

"I don't think it's impossible but I also don't think that some random, homeless crackhead is going to be able to outsmart us." Elton answered. "Is that what Sam was worried about?"

"Yeah, he thinks that something is going to happen to him because everything has happened to him so far." Colby replied. Elton nodded and glanced over at Sam. 

"He's furthest from the door, if that guy did manage to get past the doors, he has to walk past us to get to him." Elton tried. 

"I'm a heavy sleeper though, I wouldn't wake up if anything happened. That's why he was so worried about something happening while he's sleeping." Colby whispered. 

"We should shift around then, so that he's not only next to you." Elton suggested, "Corey sleeps light when we do these overnights so let's wake Corey up, get him to move to Sam's other side then we know that someone will wake up if something happens." Elton shook Corey awake and told the half asleep man to move next to Sam. Corey crawled sleepily over his friends, careful not to step on them, then flopped on the sleeping bag next to Sam. 

"Ok, that actually makes me feel better." Colby murmured. Him and Elton started to watch a TV show on Netflix until they fell asleep too, the laptop sliding off Elton's lap, still playing. 

As they slept, relatively, peacefully in their room on the 12th floor, they failed to hear the loud, metallic scraping of their blockade being pushed away from the door in the basement. A dark figure searched every room, it knew they were there but it didn't know where. It knew there was a small, petit blond that it just had to get it's hands on; the 3 others were the problem. It knew it wouldn't be hard to subdue and snatch the blond, it was the other 3 that it was concerned about. The other 3 looked physically stronger and it had seen that the group were protective of each other. It just had to figure out a way to get the blond alone. As the figure made it's way through the dark hospital, it was becoming more apparent as to where the group was hiding. It heard muffled voices coming from down the hall as it reached the 12th floor. Its footsteps were inaudible as it stepped closer to the end of the corridor, it noticed that one door at the end had light streaming through the cracks. It had found them. The voices coming from the room made it falter but, when a laughing track followed them, it continued forward. It pushed against the door and huffed when the door didn't budge. It was sick of being shut behind doors that it wanted to get through. It carefully applied pressure to the door and grinned when the door slowly started to open. The voices were louder now and it could see that they were coming from the laptop on the floor. It looked around, critiquing their set up. It wasn't looking to steal anything materialistic but it was interested to see what they had decided to bring. It didn't notice the camera in the corner of the room because it was focused on the blond. It watched him sleeping for a moment, a smile on its face. It frowned angrily when it saw the 2 on either side of the blond. It crouched by their sleeping forms, thinking of a way to get the blond away from the others. It watched in delight as the one furthest from the door rolled away from its blond. Now it just had to figure out how to get the blond away from the other brunette. It crept forward, assessing the other's positions. It crouched over them again, just waiting for them to move away from the blond. It must have been crouched there for an hour before the blond shifted and started to wake. It shuffled back to hide in the shadows and watched as the blond sleepily left the room, failing to notice that the door had been pushed open due to his half unconscious state. It followed the blond out the room, hiding around the corner as the blond relieved himself. As the blond was about to re-enter the room, it grabbed him from behind and held its hand over the blond's mouth. It flinched back and tightened its hold on the blond when he bit into its hand. The blond fought against its arms and managed to wiggle his head free. 

"Elton! Corey!" The blond screamed. It found it strange that the blond didn't call for all three of the others but it assumed the blond knew more about his friends than it did. It heard the panicked voices coming from in the room as they realised that the blond was gone. The door swung open to reveal the other 3. It grinned maniacally and held the blond against it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This spooked me a little bit as I was editing (it's 00:26 right now) so I'm going to leave the rest of my uploading for another day


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter

"Let him go." The brunette in a hoodie growled. It laughed in the blond's ear, staring the others down.

"Let. Him. Go." The man with the beard tried. It lifted its hand up to the blond's throat to hold him more effectively, delight coursing through it as it felt the blond swallow nervously.

Colby watched, enraged, as the man held Sam against himself by the neck. Sam was looking at them helplessly, begging for them to help him, with tears dripping silently down his cheeks.

"He's mine." The man rasped. Colby's hands twitched at his sides. Elton glared at the man, not taking his eyes off him.

"Let go of him." Elton hissed, stepping towards them. The man stepped away, dragging Sam with him.

"No, please. Let me go." Sam begged quietly, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. The man chuckled darkly and tightened his grip on Sam's neck, restricting the blond's breathing slightly. Sam clawed at the man's arm desperately, trying to get more air in his lungs.

"No!" Colby roared. Sam flinched; he had never heard Colby so angry, he had never heard Colby yell like that other than in his videos. The man chuckled again and tutted.

"You're in my hospital, you can't honestly think that you can tell me what to do." The man asked lowly.

"I don't give a shit. Let him go." Colby replied angrily. Sam struggled in another attempt to get away but the man huffed angrily and tightened his hand again, cutting Sam's breath off with a sickening gasp.

"Try that again and something worse than my hand will be against your neck." The man hissed in Sam's ear. Sam sobbed quietly, scared of what that meant.

"Three against one. Who do you think is going to win?" Elton asked. The man thought it over but smirked.

"Three against one, huh?" The man glanced over Sam, "Problem is, I have your little friend. And we don't want him to get hurt, do we?"

"You have no right to be here, dude, just let him go." Corey added calmly. The man sneered at them, his free hand disappearing behind him. Elton noticed and stepped back cautiously. Corey followed Elton's lead but Colby saw something glinting in the man's hand and moved forward protectively.

"Don't you dare." Colby growled. The man beamed evilly and lifted the other hand to Sam's neck, along side his hand. A sharp pocket knife flashed as the light from their room shone on it.

"Oh, I dare." The man returned. Colby shook his head and stepped towards them again. "Ah, ah, ah!" He teased, pushing the knife into Sam's skin slightly.

"No, no, no. Please." Sam begged again as he felt the knife pierce his skin. Elton and Corey shared a look, silently planning a way to get Sam. Suddenly, they both surged forward, grabbing an arm each and wrenching them away from Sam, knocking the knife out of the man's hand. The blond fell to his knees, weak, then rushed over to Colby, gasping for air now that he could breathe unrestricted again.

"Hey, hey, you're ok." Colby murmured. Colby held him tightly, mumbling to him. Corey and Elton dragged the man down the hall to get him out of the building. Colby helped Sam into the room, sitting down with Sam in his lap. "Hey, Sammy, look at me." Colby said softly. Sam still had tears on his cheeks and his breathing was still stuttered. "You're ok, you're safe." Sam whimpered when Colby's hand brushed his neck causing the brunette to pull his hand back and look at Sam's neck. On the side of Sam's neck was a thin cut, spanning about 4 inches. It didn't look too deep but it probably stung like a deep paper cut did. Colby leant over and pulled a tissue out of Elton's bag to hold it against Sam's neck. He pressed their foreheads together and helped Sam slow his breathing. "I told you we wouldn't let anything happen." Colby murmured lightly. Sam laughed quietly and laid his head on Colby's shoulder.

"Yeah, that wasn't anything." He replied sarcastically. "Thank you for saving me."

"Elton and Corey did more than I did but you're welcome." Colby wrapped his arms around Sam's waist to pull him closer, smiling slightly when Sam's arms looped around his neck. "You feeling better now?"

"Much, but it will be better when Elton and Corey get back." Sam confessed. Colby nodded in understanding, safety in numbers.

"Are you ok to finish this or do you want to leave?" Colby asked. Sam turned his head to bury his face in Colby's neck.

"I want to stay. We don't have much longer." Sam said through a yawn.

"You want to stick it out for the next 7 hours? Are you sure?" Colby wanted to be 100% sure that Sam was ok with staying, he'd happily scrap the entire video if it made Sam feel more comfortable.

"Yeah, I want to do it. This place is too cool. So long as the guy doesn't come back. We can easily ignore the noises, we've been doing it all night." Sam murmured sleepily. Colby chuckled quietly, the adrenaline must finally be leaving the smaller man's body. The brunette gently ran his hand up and down Sam's back in an attempt to comfort him and lull him to sleep. Corey and Elton soon made their way back up to the room, entering slowly so that they didn't startle Sam but smiled when they saw the blond sleeping peacefully on Colby's shoulder.

"How's he doing?" Elton asked softly. Corey pushed more against the door then joined them on the sleeping bag.

"Better, but he wants to stay until morning so I think that at least one person should be awake at all times, just so that nothing can really happen again." Colby replied quietly. Elton nodded and pulled his laptop back in front of them.

"We still have the energy drinks and snacks so let's just let him sleep for a bit." Corey tugged the snack bag towards them and handed them an energy drink each. Colby pulled one of their blankets over Sam then relaxed against the wall. Elton found a new show for them to start while Sam slept.

"Will he be ok?" Corey asked after a few episodes. Colby paused a moment, craning his neck to look at Sam's sleeping face, then he turned back to Corey with a soft smile.

"Yeah. He's got us."


	6. Chapter 6

"We could take Jake, Mike, Kevin..." Said Elton. It had been an hour or so and they were talking about going camping for their next trip.

"I think everyone's free in like 2 or 3 weeks so we could plan it then." Corey said. Elton nodded and pulled out his phone to text everyone.

"Family trip." Colby exclaimed happily. Corey chuckled at the younger man. Sam groaned and started to shift restlessly on Colby. Colby frowned worriedly and looked back to Sam.

"He ok?" Elton asked concerned. Colby glanced at Elton with a worried look on his face and shook his head. Sam whimpered in his sleep and tried to curl up closer to Colby.

"You're ok, Sam." Colby muttered in Sam's ear, hoping that the blond would settle. Sam whined again and started to push away from Colby.

"Wake him up." Corey encouraged. Colby started to shake Sam but paused.

"I thought you weren't supposed wake people up when they're having nightmares?" Colby asked.

"Better than letting him go through whatever he's dreaming about right now." Elton reasoned. Colby nodded in agreement then shook Sam awake.

"What?" Sam murmured sleepily.

"You were having a bad dream." Colby said softly. Sam squinted and looked around the room.

"I was?" He asked. Colby nodded, watching Sam carefully. Sam hummed and dropped his head onto Colby's shoulder sleepily.

"You can go back to sleep." Colby murmured. Sam nodded against Colby and closed his eyes. Colby frowned again and hugged Sam closer, not wanting him to have another bad dream.

"Should we be staying here if he's having bad dreams?" Corey asked after a few moments.

"He said he wanted to stay." Colby said. Elton watched them as he thought but turned back to the laptop. "We should ask Reggie to come too." Colby added quietly.

"Oh yeah, that would be fun." Corey said with a grin. "This is going to be an epic camping trip, we're going to have to take like 4 tents."

"Where are we going to go?" Colby asked. Elton smirked at the two causing them to look at each other worried.

"I don't trust that look." Corey admitted suspiciously. Elton chuckled and shook his head.

"Just... it's not that bad, just leave the location to me." Elton replied. Corey scowled at Elton.

"It's going to be somewhere sketchy." Corey decided with a nod. Colby nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"For sure." He agreed.

"No. Why would I do that? I would never." Elton rambled in a high pitched voice. Corey and Colby laughed and shook their heads.

"Right." Corey answered in disbelief.

"You've already committed to it, brother." Colby teased. "We're going."

"I don't know, brother." Corey returned.

"There's nine of us going, Corey, what's the worst that could happen?" Colby asked. Corey looked at Colby with shock on his face.

"We could be murdered." Corey said defensively.

"What murderer is going to come up to nine dudes to kill them?" Elton asked critically.

"I don't know, Elton, I'm not a murderer." Corey returned. Colby laughed loudly before smothering the sound with his hand so he didn't wake Sam up.

"No one goes the the place I have in mind so we won't get murdered." Elton reassured.

"That makes me more worried." Corey said. Colby chuckled again but quieter.

"We'll be fine." Colby said with a wave of his hand.

"You are not allowed to make this trip part of the prank war." Corey said sternly. Elton grinned at the idea but nodded.

"Ok." He conceded easily.

"Promise." Corey demanded. Colby shook his head with a smile but looked over at Elton, hoping that he would promise.

"I swear on Circa that I won't make our trip part of the prank war." Elton promised. Corey glared at Elton, not really believing him, but he eventually nodded slowly.

"... Ok, but only because you swore on Circa." Corey said. Colby eyed Elton carefully, he could usually tell when Elton was lying, whether during pranks or otherwise.

"If it really means this much to you, I promise that I will personally make sure that the camp trip has nothing to do with the prank war." Elton said sincerely. Corey relaxed at that but he knew that Elton could be a good liar when he wanted to be.

"How long do you think we should go for?" Colby asked softly. He absently twisted his ring around his finger as his hands rested on Sam's back.

"I think we should make it a week thing." Elton suggested. Corey hummed in agreement.

"We could do with a family vacation." Corey nodded. "Maybe we could make a video at the beginning of the week to explain where we're all going to be for the week then only film Snapchat and Instagram stories so that we're focused on the trip."

"I agree, we've been so hyper focused on YouTube recently, we could use a break." Colby commented. Sam hummed in his sleep and shifted closer to Colby as he tried to get more comfortable.

"Maybe you should lay him down, sleeping like that can't be comfortable." Elton said, observing the younger man. Elton had a point, Sam's legs must have been aching from being bend on either side of Colby's thighs and he was hunched over so he could lay on Colby's shoulder, which also couldn't be comfortable since Colby wasn't even wearing a t-shirt so Sam was just laying on Colby's bony shoulder. Colby paused, he didn't particularly want to let go of his best friend but he knew that he'd ultimately care more about Sam's comfort than the fact that he just wanted to hold Sam. After a moment of consideration, Colby carefully shifted Sam onto the sleeping bag and slid a pillow under his head. "I'm assuming you're not going to use this footage." Elton nodded to the camera that was still recording in the corner of the room.

"I'll have to see what happens before that guy attacked him but I'm not going to use anything anything after that. Whether he wants to or not, we'll just put a text screen up explaining what happened." Colby explained as he pulled a blanket over Sam. 

"Do you want to keep it running anyway?" Elton asked after taking a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, but I don't know if we'll need it if we're staying awake." Colby answered, "Maybe we should watch it back now while he's asleep."

"Is he supposed to edit this one?" Elton stood and walked over to the camera, he stopped the recording and unhooked it from the tripod before taking it back to Colby. Corey paused Netflix and leant closer to Colby so that he could see the small LED screen. "Go back to when we fell asleep." Colby did as he was told and rewound the footage, ignoring everything until he got to when they had just fallen asleep.

"Ok, here we go." Colby muttered as he pressed play. They watched quietly, listening for any indication that the man was coming. They jolted in shock when there was a very distant metallic scraping that echoed up through the hospital.

"So he pushed the door open?" Corey whispered, shock and disbelief clear in his voice.

"How?" Colby asked softly. "We put so much against that door." Elton shook his head, they had put a lot of heavy equipment against the basement door and he knew that Colby had tied the door shut really tight. They waited, tense, as nothing happened for a few minutes. Then the door to the room they were in scraped open. They watched in horror as the man crouched next to Sam.

"Are you going to keep this in?" Corey asked apprehensively.

"If Sam says it's ok, then yes." Colby sighed. They all had chills as they watched the man crouching by them as they slept.

"Jesus, dude, how long did he sit there?!" Corey murmured nervously. Colby fast-forwarded through the video, watching as the man barely moved for the hour he was sat there.

"How did he not cramp up?" Elton asked with a laugh in his voice, he was attempting to lighten the mood since they knew now that the man wasn't coming back and that they were safe. His plan worked and the other two men laughed.

"Oh, Sam's waking up." Colby pointed out, pointing at the screen. They turned their attention back to the screen and watched everything play out. Colby turned the camera off and laid it down next to him. They sat in silence as they processed what they had just watched.

"So, is Sam editing this one?" Elton repeated.

"Yeah, he's supposed to but I think I'm going to do it." Colby answered.

"That's probably the best idea, though he is going to watch it at some point." Corey said. Colby bit his lip in thought and glanced down at the sleeping form next to him.

"He'll be able to handle watching it." Colby finally said.

"We could always just do a reaction video to it, so that, when he does watch it, we're there too." Elton suggested.

"That's a good idea, we can film that a few days after we release it so that people have time to comment if they hear something we miss." Colby agreed. Silence briefly fell amongst them again.

"Are you coming to pizza night on Friday?" Corey asked, quickly changing the subject from their current situation. Elton chuckled to himself, he knew what Corey was doing.

"Yeah I am, Aaron promised me it wasn't going to be one of your crazy parties so I'm down." Elton said.

"Our pizza nights aren't parties, Elton." Corey grumbled. Elton turned to Corey with a raised eyebrow. "They're not, there's only like 8 of us."

"You guys broke a window last week." Elton said in a deadpan tone. Corey and Colby looked at each other sheepishly then turned to Elton with smiles.

"Ok, maybe they're little parties sometimes." Colby admitted with a shrug. "But they're fun."

"You don't need to convince me, I'm coming." Elton laughed. Corey and Colby chuckled with the older man. Colby felt Sam move and looked down at him fondly. The blond rolled over and reached out blindly until his hand hit Colby's leg, which caused him to relax back into sleep. Colby ran his hand through Sam's hair and smiled when his best friend sighed contently. Elton and Corey shared a knowing smile then turned their attention back to the laptop. They had always suspected that the best friends had stronger feelings for one another but were scared to admit it, understandably.

It had been silent for hours after what had happened to Sam, they hadn't heard anything. But a cool breeze hitting his leg caught Colby's attention.

"Elton? Did you say that everything was boarded up in this place?" Colby asked carefully. Elton paused the show at looked at Colby confused.

"Yeah, why?" Elton asked.

"And you said there wouldn't be any draughts?" Colby continued. Elton and Corey shared another look. "Feel by my leg." They hesitantly did as they were told then looked up at him in shock when they felt the cold breeze by Colby's leg.

"What?" Corey whispered, his eyes beginning to water. "Are you kidding me? Nothing has happened for hours, what the fuck." Colby subconsciously reached out to lay his hand on Sam's side as they silently watched to door.

"Careful." A voice carried down the hall to them. They looked at each other, shocked.

"Sam," Colby mumbled, shaking Sam. "Sammy, wake up." Sam grumbled and squished his face against Colby's thigh. "No, wake up." Sam whined but he opened his eyes with a slight smile that dropped when he saw the others' faces and he sat up to look at them.

"What?" He asked, all the sleep leaving his body.

"We heard a voice." Corey whispered.

"We've been hearing shit all night." Sam groaned, flopping back down on the ground but laying his head on Colby's thigh.

"No, this was an actual voice." Elton argued. Sam frowned; if Elton was saying it was a voice then it must have been, he didn't believe in ghosts.

"Should we leave?" Corey asked, his voice shaky.

"No, we said we wouldn't leave until 9." Elton protested.

"Was it that guy?" Sam asked worriedly. Colby held Sam close as the older man answered.

"No, it wasn't. It was a woman." Elton replied. Sam sat up again but he pressed himself against Colby side.

"Do- do you think someone else is in here again?" Sam murmured. Colby curled his arm around Sam's waist to comfort him.

"I think we would have heard someone else coming in." Elton said.

"Well, what did the voice say?" Sam finally asked.

"It sounded like it said 'careful' but I couldn't think why." Corey answered.

"Have you heard anything else?" Sam's hand curled in Colby's shirt tightly.

"No, nothing." Corey shook his head. Sam felt his eyes starting to droop again now that he had been told that they were still safe. Sam tucked his face in Colby's neck and sighed contently, letting his eyes slip shut.

"Wake me up if something crazy happens." Sam mumbled, he released Colby's shirt and slid his hand around Colby's waist, holding him close. Corey and Elton looked away politely as Colby looked down at Sam and brushed his fingers over Sam's cheek gently.

"Are we just going to ignore what just happened?" Corey asked, his hands raised towards the door.

"What do you want us to do? I don't want to go out there, do you?" Colby questioned. Corey shook his head but moved towards the door. "Corey?" The older man said nothing, just waved his hand behind him for them to be quiet. He carefully opened the door and poked his head out, he shifted slightly to shine his torch out down the hallway. Elton looked at Corey's back in disbelief.

"There's nothing there." Corey stated as he re-closed the door.

"You were expecting something?" Elton asked. Corey huffed and dropped himself back on the sleeping bag.

"Should we just go to sleep?" Colby asked, "I mean, if we're asleep we can't hear them saying shit."

"I thought you wanted us to stay awake?" Corey asked. Colby shrugged.

"I think we should just sleep, nothing has happened in hours and we may as well sleep for the last few." Colby reasoned. Elton shrugged and, without a word, shifted the laptop to Corey's lap then slid down onto the sleeping bag, tucking his pillow under his head. "I mean you can stay up if you want to but I'm tired." Corey sighed, glancing at the door, then he shut the laptop and carefully put it by their bags. Colby watched Corey lay down before turning to Sam. He moved Sam to lay next to him. He laid down on his back, moving Sam slightly to put his arm under the blond's head. "Goodnight Sammy." Colby whispered before closing his eyes.

Eventually, Corey fell asleep too and they slept peacefully for a few hours. But Sam was shaken awake by a violent slam coming from the hallway. He blinked sleepily, looking around the room from his sleeping place. He looked up and smiled at his best friend's sleeping face; he had moved as they slept and he was laying on Colby's chest, the brunette's arm was wrapped securely around his shoulders.

"Colby," Sam whispered. "Colby," Colby groaned and shifted slightly, pulling Sam closer subconsciously. "Wake up."

"What's up?" Colby grumbled sleepily. Sam bit his lip at the man's low tone.

"I heard something." Sam whispered. Colby shook his head and turned to face Sam, tucking Sam against his chest.

"We've been hearing shit all night." Colby dismissed.

"No, it was louder than what we've been hearing." Colby didn't answer for a minute, still drifting in and out of sleep.

"We'll talk about it in the morning." Colby slurred.

"But Colby, what if he comes back?" Sam asked worriedly. Colby chuckled sleepily and gently ran his hand over Sam's side.

"Just go to sleep, baby, don't worry about it." Colby mumbled, practically asleep again already. Sam's heart started to race in his chest but he ignored it; Colby was basically asleep through the whole conversation and there was no way he'd remember it in the morning. Sam wasn't about to get his hopes up when Colby wouldn't even remember it. Instead, Sam laid down again and fell asleep.

Throughout the night, Sam continuously woke up to voices and hands running through his hair or across his back when Colby's arms were still or not even on him. Eventually, Elton started to wake up so Sam sat up, moving carefully so that Colby didn't wake up too.

"Sam?" Elton whispered. Sam stayed quiet as Elton sat up too.

"Yeah?" He replied when Elton had settled. 

"What are you doing awake? It's 8:12am." Elton questioned after checking his phone.

"I didn't sleep too well." Sam admitted with a shrug. Colby shifted in his sleep, his arms moving and grasping like he was trying to pull Sam back to him.

"You were sleeping pretty soundly when we were awake." Elton stated, confused. Sam frowned and looked towards the door.

"I must have started waking up when you guys fell asleep then." Sam explained. Elton frowned and glanced around the room. "I couldn't sleep properly, I kept hearing and feeling things."

"Shit, we'd turned the camera off." Elton muttered.

"It's fine, we can just tell the audience when we get back to the car." Sam replied. Elton nodded then turned to grab his laptop. "Should we start to pack up while they're asleep?"

"We could do, then we can just leave." Elton agreed. Sam carefully moved Colby's arm from around him and shifted slowly to the end of the sleeping bag until he could stand without waking Colby or Corey. They quietly started to tidy the room and pack everything into their bags. Ignoring the distant sounds of doors slamming, they sat down again and began to watch videos on Elton's phone. It was another hour and a half before Corey started to wake up and sat up.

"Did we do it?" He asked sleepily. Elton chuckled.

"Yeah, we did." Elton confirmed, "We just need to wait for Colby to wake up then we can go." Corey yawned, nodding his ok. He crawled around Colby's sleeping form so he could see Elton's phone too.

"No..." Colby groaned as he woke up causing the others to laugh. He rolled onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes. "Can we leave yet?"

"We've been waiting for you to wake up." Sam said. Colby groaned again but then he pushed himself up. 

"Let's go." Colby mumbled. He pushed himself up onto his feet and stumbled towards his and Sam's bag. Corey and Elton packed the sleeping bags and blankets then started to leave the room. They quietly made their way down the psychiatric ward corridor but Elton stopped near the end of the hall, looking at the ceiling down a side hall. 

"What?" Corey asked. Elton pointed at a small hatch in the ceiling that none of them had noticed the day before. 

"This place has an attic." Elton pointed out. 

"We should check it out." Sam suggested already moving towards the hatch. Colby shook his head fondly at his friend then he swung his bag around to pull their camera out. 

"Ok, guys. It's the next day, we survived the night. But, as we were leaving, Elton noticed this door." Colby started after he pressed record. He turned the camera around to show the hatch then he moved to show Sam trying to reach the ceiling. "Do you need some help?" Sam dropped his hands to his sides and nodded. Colby handed Elton the camera then crouched down for Sam to climb on his shoulders. Sam carefully climbed onto Colby's shoulders and shifted until he was stable, Colby held Sam's knees then started to stand. He grimaced as the skin either side of his cut pulled and he took a deep breath when he straightened up. 

"You ok, man?" Corey asked. Colby nodded and shifted on his feet slightly. Sam rested one hand in Colby's hair while the other reached up to push the hatch up. 

"There's a ladder." Sam said, "Colby, move to your right a little bit." The brunette moved to his right then adjusted his grip on Sam's legs. Colby tried to look up so he could move accordingly but Sam was in the way. "I have it, move backward." Colby stepped back to let Sam pull the ladder down in front of them. He knelt down slowly to let Sam get down then he turned to Corey. 

"Can you hold the ladder?" Corey nodded and walked to the ladder, positioning himself against it. Sam immediately started to climb up the ladder, Colby followed close behind. 

"Elton, hand us the camera." Sam called out, his hand hanging out of the hatch. Colby pulled their torches out of the bag and flicked his torch on and started looking around while Sam got the camera. He frowned, a deep ache emanating from his side. Sam couldn't really see Colby in the dark but he could tell that his friend was holding his side. "Colby?" Sam said softly, approaching Colby slowly. 

"I'm ok." He replied just as softly. Sam frowned and took his torch from Colby. He guided Colby to a wooden chair then knelt beside him. "I'm fine." Colby tried. Sam hummed incredulously, lifting Colby's shirt up. With a sigh, Colby pulled his shirt off so that Sam could look at the cut more closely.  

"Sorry." Sam muttered when Colby groaned while he was pulling the gauze away.  They were quiet as Sam looked at the cut, they could hear Elton and Corey talking below them. Sam gently poked around the wound, seeing if it was inflamed or hurt Colby when he touched it. Sam asked Colby to hold his torch up so he could put his down. He laid his, now free, hand on Colby's stomach and pushed at the skin surrounding the wound. "Does it feel bruised?" Sam asked as he was poking. 

"No, it was just aching." Colby replied. With a nod, Sam lightly stroked his thumb over the cut then stood up. 

"Ok, I think we should let it air now and we should check it again when we get back to the car." Sam suggested. Colby agreed then put his shirt back on. 

"Are you ok?" Colby asked softly. His eyes were on the small cut on Sam's neck. Sam nodded and stepped back so Colby could stand up. Sam looked around the room, shining his torch around, then he raised the camera. He was acutely aware of Colby stepping up close behind him, his hand resting on Sam's hip. After looking in the viewfinder to make sure that it looked like Colby was just standing behind him, Sam pressed record. 

"We climbed up into the attic, it's pitch black in here. But, from what I can see with the torch, it looks like..." Sam trailed off, looking around the room as he tried to figure out what it looked like. Colby frowned and looked too.

"It looks a bit like a kid's room." Colby finished for him. Sam's eyes widened as he looked again, realising that Colby was right. 

"That's so creepy." Sam murmured. He, reluctantly, walked out of Colby's grasp to look at a box that had caught his attention. Since Sam's attention was on pulling the box from under the bed frame, Colby freely watched the blond bend over to reach the box with an eyebrow raised appreciatively. "It just has photos in." Sam announced after looking through the contents of the box. Colby joined Sam and sat on the bed frame, holding his torch up for Sam. Sam handed the camera off to Colby then started to pull some photos out. 

"They were taken outside the buildings." Colby pointed out. The ones Sam was holding showed hundreds of men, women and children stood outside the hospital. 

"They're dated too." Sam turned one of the photos around to show Colby and the camera. 

"1898." Colby read out loud. Sam looked up at Colby with wide eyes and shuffled through the box again. Colby subconsciously readjusted his hair and leant forward to film in the box. 

"There's a diary in here." Sam said, holding up an old leather bound book. 

"Are you guys done yet?" Corey shouted. 

"Take pictures of it real quick." Colby suggested, knowing that Sam would want to know what the diary said. Sam did just that, moving quickly because he knew that Corey and Elton wanted to leave. Colby packed the camera in their bag while Sam was busy then he stood waiting for him. All of a sudden Sam jumped up and scrambled to Colby's side, wrapping his arms around his waist. Colby groaned in pain but he turned to Sam all the same. "What's wrong? What happened?" He asked softly. 

"Something tugged on my shirt." Sam whispered through ragged breaths. 

"We're leaving now anyway so let's go." Colby reasoned. Sam nodded but didn't move his arms. Colby, however, held onto Sam's arms and moved them lower on his torso. 

"Sorry." Sam muttered when he realised why Colby moved his arms. 

"You're ok." Colby returned. "Take a second to catch your breath then we can go." Sam nodded and rested his head against Colby's shoulder. Colby run his hand up and down Sam's back comfortingly, waiting patiently for Sam to be ready. 

Soon enough they climbed down the ladder and joined Corey and Elton in the corridor. 

"Can we leave this place now?" Corey asked once the hatch was closed again. Everyone readily agreed and hurried down the stairs to the first floor. 

"Daylight." Elton cheered when they stepped outside. 

Once they were out of the hospital, they rushed through the trees and let out relieved sighs when they saw Colby's car parked on the road. 

"Let's finish the video and head back to the house." 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure I like this chapter, and it is more of a filler chapter than anything else, but that may be because I read through every chapter so many times so it may change, or it may not. I don't know, I just wanted to upload for the few who are waiting for it  
> The camping trip chapter(s) will be soon

As soon as they got home, the group disappeared to separate parts of the house, wanting to relax after the night they'd had. Elton had stayed to help them carry their stuff into the house but then he had gone back to his own house. Colby made sure that he had the memory card with him when he and Sam parted at their rooms. He didn't want to start editing the video yet so he changed out of his skinny jeans and tank top into some comfy sweats and made his way downstairs. 

"Hello, brother." Said a voice from behind him. Colby closed the fridge door and smiled at his friend. 

"Hey, Jake." He greeted. 

"How was the bando?" Jake asked with a grin. Colby chuckled and opened his drink take a sip before answering. 

"Eventful." He replied simply. "We nearly left early." Jake nodded thoughtfully and jumped up on the island, swinging his legs slightly in a childlike manner that suited the man.

"Was everyone ok?" Jake sounded genuinely concerned. Colby nodded then his eyes turned to the ceiling.

"Sam might not be but he's got us to support him." He admitted. Jake stayed silent for a moment until his eyes slipped to Colby's side. 

"Holy shit, Colby, what happened?!" Jake exclaimed. Colby frowned, confused for a moment, but then he lifted his arm to look at the scabbing cut. 

"I got pushed down some stairs at the bando." He explained calmly. Jake observed the cut worriedly; it was a dark red, deep looking, jagged cut surrounded by splodges of blue and purple, to Jake, it also looked slightly inflamed.

"Maybe tell me what went down." Jake suggested. Colby agreed and lead Jake into the game room so they could talk. "Holy fuck." Jake murmured when Colby finished, he slumped back into the couch. "That is going to be a crazy video." Colby chuckled and nodded. 

"I'll start editing later this week." Colby sighed. 

"Do you want to watch something?" Jake asked suddenly. "Then we can Postmates some food later." 

"Good idea." Colby readily agreed. 

"Do you wanna go and get Sam?" Jake suggested. Colby smiled at his friend, knowing that Jake had asked because he had mentioned that Sam wasn't doing great. 

Colby knocked softly on Sam's door, opening it when he didn't answer. He smiled fondly at the sleeping boy and perched on the edge of Sam's bed. 

"Hey Sammy, wake up." He said softly. Sam's eyes slowly opened, a small smile on his lips.

"What?" He mumbled sleepily. Colby gently stroked his hand over Sam's bare arm.

"Me and Jake are going to watch some movies, if you want to come down and watch too?" Colby replied, his voice low. Sam nodded sleepily. 

"Yeah, I'll meet you down there." Colby nodded then left Sam's room. 

When Colby returned to the couch, Jake had set out some snacks on the coffee table and was waiting for him. Colby relaxed back into the couch and rested his arm on the back cushions. Jake was scrolling through Netflix when Sam slowly made his way downstairs. Without a word, Sam dropped himself next to Colby, relaxing into the other man's open arm. Jake smiled to himself when he saw Sam beeline for Colby; he had heard them both tell him how they felt about the other and he knew they trusted him with that knowledge, so to see them so close to what they both wanted made him happy. 

"What movie are we thinking?" Jake asked. Sam and Colby smiled at Jake blatantly ignoring the situation. "Ooo the Saw movies." Jake started the first movie without the others saying anything. Colby curled his arm around Sam's shoulders and smiled when the blond absently started to mess with the hand that was hanging by Sam's chest. 

Corey joined them as the second movie started and Jake decided to order food near the end of it. 

"Ok, food is on its way." Jake said as the credits started to roll. He put his phone down and turned to look at Sam. "Sam, you doing ok? Colby told me about the hospital." 

"Yeah, I'm good. I feel better now that we're home." Sam replied softly. Colby briefly knocked his head against Sam's then laid back on the cushions. Jake opened his mouth to praise Sam's bravery but his phone pinging interrupted him. 

"Oh food's here." Jake murmured happily. He jumped to his feet and wandered through the hall to get their food. 

"You ok?" Colby whispered to Sam. Corey pulled out his phone so that Sam and Colby could talk. 

"Yeah, I'm ok." Sam nodded and laid his head on Colby's chest. 

"Are you ok with watching this?" Colby tried again. Sam smiled and curled closer to his best friend. 

"Mhmm." Sam hummed. Corey smiled at them but played it off as looking at his phone. "I'll tell you if I'm not ok." He promised. When Jake returned with their food, they started the next movie.

As they continued through the movies, Sam's eyes began to droop and his head slid further onto Colby's chest as he fell asleep. Jake and Corey started to clear up their mess when the credits of Jigsaw were rolling while Colby carefully slipped out of Sam's hold. He leant over the blond, standing between his legs, and shifted Sam into his arms. After a slight stumble as he adjusted to Sam's weight, Colby moved Sam's head to rest more comfortably on his shoulder then he started up the stairs, carrying Sam like he was a sleeping toddler. With some difficulty, Colby pulled back the duvet on Sam's bed and carefully laid the man down. 

Sam woke up suddenly with a choked scream; his breathing rapid, tears streaming down his cheeks, sweat clinging to his skin. He swallowed hard and looked around his dark room. He was confused about how he got to his room, he didn't remember waking up to walk to his bed. With a deep breath, he wiped his face and threw the cover off his legs. He sleepily left his bed and quietly crept into Colby's room. Colby was fast asleep so Sam slowly climbed over Colby's couch to lay down in the space between Colby and the wall. 

"What?" Colby slurred sleepily. He was still asleep but Sam's scream had woken him slightly. Sam stayed quiet and just relaxed into the bed. He let out a quiet sigh and turned to face Colby, who was facing the other way. As he watched Colby's torso rise and fall with each breath, he slowly fell asleep again. 

As usual Sam was awake before Colby so he carefully crawled out of Colby's bed and returned to his room to get dressed. He heard Colby moving in his bed as he left his room again but he continued on downstairs. Corey greeted him from the game room as he got himself some water then he joined Corey on the couch; he could tell that the other man wanted to say something but was relieved that he didn't. 

It was getting close to half 1 when Colby finally walked downstairs. 

"Did you come into my room last night?" Colby asked through a yawn after he flopped onto the couch. 

"Erm yeah." Sam admitted shyly. Colby nodded.

"Ok, that's fine. I'm glad it wasn't a demon or something." Colby murmured. With another yawn, Colby ran his hand through his hair and relaxed into the couch, not saying anything more. 

That night, Sam reluctantly went to his room and tried to stay awake. He tried scrolling through his social medias, watching his friends' YouTube; he even tried just scrolling through his camera roll. Eventually, he just let himself fall down the YouTube rabbit hole and ended up watching fan edits. He would have edited their hospital video but Colby wouldn't let him have the SD card, which was probably for the best considering that he was trying to stay awake because of the hospital. 

As he woke up with a gasp, Sam startled when his phone fell on the floor. He didn't remember falling asleep and he was mad at himself for letting it happen. Once again, he slipped out of his bed and quietly made his way to Colby's room. 

"Sam?" Colby whispered as Sam crawled into Colby's bed again.

"Yeah, it's me." Sam replied softly. Colby hummed and curled into his bed more. Sam smiled. He slowly pulled the cover out from underneath him; he had slept on it the night before because Colby hadn't known he was there. 

It was warm when Sam woke up again the next morning, he frowned and tried to move but an arm tightened around his waist. His frown deepened. He looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Colby pressed against his back. Sam relished in the feeling of Colby's body against him and closed his eyes again. Colby shuffled closer to Sam, sighing contently. 

"You ok?" Colby whispered, surprising Sam again. 

"Yeah." Sam replied. 

"Are you having nightmares?" Colby asked. Sam moved his arm slightly to slide his hand into Colby's then he answered. 

"Yeah I have." Colby leant his head against the back of Sam's. 

"You can come in here whenever you need to." 

Spending the night with someone every night leads to some long conversations; they had reminisced on past adventures, they had planned future videos, they had talked about their day if they hadn't spent the day together, they had had some awkward conversations, they had talked about the videos they were watching. Both Sam and Colby found themselves looking forward to the nights where they spent hours talking before they fell asleep together; of course, they spent time together during the day but they were usually with their friends or, if they were alone, it didn't feel the same as the nights they spent alone together. Each night they spent in Colby's bed, the closer they got. They acted the same towards each other when someone was filming and they would go so far as to curl up with each other on the couch if their close friends were around but when they were alone in Colby's room- and it was always Colby's room- they barely left the other's side. 

They didn't need to talk about the shift in their relationship, they didn't need to. They had increased their affections towards each other in private mutually, by acting on instinct and what felt right. 

Somehow, their fans had picked up on the shift, despite them being the same as they always had been on camera. Neither of them had responded to the comments or the tweets and their friends only had suspicions. Or, maybe, they were fixating on comments about their relationship and interactions because something was finally happening. They weren't sure. 

Sam was laying on Colby's chest as the brunette was scrolling through the comments on Corey's newest video. 

"Oh here's one," Colby said once he found a comment about them. "'Sam's so lucky to have someone like Colby.' Aw, you're so lucky." Colby teased with a grin. Sam chuckled and slapped Colby's arm lightly. 

"They say that because they don't know how annoying you are." Sam replied with a laugh. 

"Mhmm, I'm sure." Colby hummed then scrolled down further. 

"Oh apparently it looks like we want to fuck on the couch." Sam laughed, pointing the comment out to Colby. "Ooo, 'Colby's looking hot in this video, like if you agree'." Sam tapped the like button on the comment and giggled into his hand as Colby pulled the phone back. 

"No, this is on my account." He protested but Sam could hear the smile in his voice. Sam turned to hide his face against Colby's chest as Colby's hand stroked up and down his back absently. "Do you want to watch Reggie's video now?" Sam nodded, turning his head back to rest on Colby's chest. Sam shuffled closer to his best friend and laid his other arm over Colby's stomach. They quietly watched Reggie's video then Colby put his phone on charge and wrapped his arms around Sam. "Wake me up if you have a nightmare." Colby said softly, as he had every night for the past two weeks. 

"I will." Sam promised. 

Sam had managed to sleep peacefully for a few hours before his dreams darkened. Colby slowly opened his eyes as he was woken up by Sam tossing next to him. 

"Hey, Sammy, wake up." Colby murmured, shaking Sam's shoulders. He leant over Sam slightly and nudged him harder to rouse him. Sam's eyes snapped open, locking on Colby's in the dark. His chest was heaving and tears were falling down his cheeks. Colby gently cupped Sam's face and wiped the tears away. "You're ok, hey, look." Colby whispered. "You're ok, baby, you're at home. You're safe." Sam took a deep breath and nodded.

"You're awake before me." Sam stated. Colby chuckled quietly and nodded. He rested their foreheads together and stroked his thumbs over Sam's cheeks. 

"Yeah. You ok now?" Colby whispered once Sam was breathing normally again. Sam smiled; his heart was still beating hard but he knew it wasn't because of the nightmare anymore. 

"I'm ok now." Colby smiled softly at him, kissing Sam on the forehead before laying back down next to him. Sam instantly pressed himself against Colby, basically just laying on him. "I'm sick of these nightmares." Sam admitted, his voice was muffled due to him nuzzling his face into Colby's neck but Colby heard him. 

"They're getting better though, you're having them less than you did last week." Sam sighed and started to run his finger across Colby's collarbone. "Just think about our trip next week." 

Sam smiled to himself; he really was lucky to have Colby. As Colby lightly stroked his hand over Sam's back, Sam slowly drifted off to sleep. Dreams of his best friend filling his mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camping trip will start in the next chapter...

The house had been tense since they had gotten back from the abandoned hospital. Everyone was worried about Sam, they knew he'd been having nightmares and had to sleep in Colby's room, but they knew Colby didn't mind.

Sam knew everyone was worried about him but he wanted to ease the tension slightly... by creating more tension? So he decided to awaken the prank war again.

"Hey guys, so everyone has been on edge since our last exploration video so I've decided to play a prank on Colby and Corey." Sam announced to his camera. "Corey is downstairs playing Rocket League and Colby is at the gym. So, as you know and, probably enjoy, Colby and I have been getting a lot closer and taking our relationship to another level, though we have been taking it slow because of what happened and how we got together, but I've decided, for some reason, to play a cheating prank on Colby." Sam laughed nervously and looked behind himself. "This is probably a terrible idea and I don't know how he's going to react but I'm going to do it anyway." Sam snuck downstairs past Corey and into the garage. "Hey Elton." He whispered, holding the camera on both of them.

"Sam..." Elton turned in his chair and smiled at the camera.

"I need your help for a prank." Sam said.

"A prank on who?" Elton asked hesitantly. Sam grinned into the camera then looked at Elton.

"Colby and Corey." Elton glared at Sam but chuckled.

"What's your plan?" Sam set the camera on the desk and joined Elton in front of it.

"Once Colby is home, he usually goes to watch Corey play his game while I'm upstairs 'editing'." Sam started, "Really, I'm going to be in Colby's bed with a friend that Colby's never met, half naked. Corey wanted to film a video with me later so he'll come up and get me in like half an hour to an hour, he'll catch me 'cheating' on Colby with this guy. I'll beg for him not to tell Colby, but he will go and tell Colby. Colby will come upstairs and see me with this guy and flip out."

"This is cruel." Elton laughed.

"I know, it's so mean." Sam sighed ruefully.

"But I kind of love it." Elton said, "I mean Corey's had the cheating prank played on him by both you and Colby. So it's only fair."

"Ok, will you film?" Sam asked as he picked up the camera. Elton nodded and followed Sam back upstairs. "I'm going to set up a camera in Colby's room and you're going to be in my room with this camera."

"So who's this friend?" Elton asked. He took Sam's camera off him so that he could film the blond.

"My friend, Dylan. He's already in my room and Colby is about to get home." Sam said. "Is Aaron home?" Elton nodded and giggled.

"This is going to be crazy." Sam said. "Dylan, come here, let's do this." A tall, dark haired, brown eyed man stepped out of Sam's room and followed Sam into Colby's room. Elton filmed as Dylan laid down on Colby's bed. "Oh god, this is scary."

"He's going to be so mad." Elton said as he backed away. They heard Corey shout in victory as he won the last game. Sam hurriedly told Elton to leave then turned to Dylan.

"I'm so scared." Sam whispered. He quickly went to talk to the camera while he could hear Corey talking downstairs. "I'm pretty sure that Colby may get violent because he is super protective over me but he doesn't like to show that side of himself on the internet so I might cut it out if it gets to that. Dylan actually does boxing in his free time and gets punched by guys much bigger than Colby, so he'll be fine if he does get hit and he has given his full consent to do this." He hurried into Colby's bed when he heard Corey coming upstairs. "Hey, bro, lean over me so it looks worse." Dylan straddled Sam's thighs and leant his hands on either side of Sam's head.

"This is going to be crazy." Dylan whispered. Sam giggled and hesitantly laid his hands on Dylan's back. He heard Corey creeping down the corridor so he hummed loudly to catch the older man's attention.

"Sam?!" Corey exclaimed when he saw them. Sam pushed Dylan off him and sat up.

"No, Corey, it's not... I'm not..." Sam stuttered. Corey covered his mouth in shock and stared as Dylan pulled the blankets further up.

"What the fuck are you doing, Sam?!" Corey demanded angrily.

"No, Corey, no. It's not... we're not doing anything." Sam begged. His eyes flicked to the camera then to the door, where Elton was peeking in with the other camera.

"How could you do this to Colby?" Corey asked. Sam could see the anger in Corey's eyes and he could only imagine what Colby's reaction was going to be. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"No, please, don't tell him. He can't find out." Sam started to force tears to his eyes to try and sell his desperation to Corey. "It would kill him. Please don't."

"I have to, dude. Why would you do this?" Corey asked.

"Bro, just calm down." Dylan added bravely. Corey glared at Dylan and stepped forward, his stance threatening.

"You shut the fuck up." Corey hissed. "I'm getting Colby."

"No! Corey, please don't. I don't want to hurt him. Please." Sam begged. Corey shook his head and stormed out the room, slamming the door behind him. "This is going really well." Sam grinned. Dylan chuckled and nodded.

"He's pissed." Dylan said. "How are you so good at this?"

"He's so pissed. Are you ready for Colby?" Sam asked quietly. He could hear Corey yelling at Colby downstairs, Elton peeked around the corner again and laughed before backing into Sam's room.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Dylan whispered as they heard Colby running up the stairs with Corey bounding after him. Colby slammed into his door, swinging it open until it hit the wall.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Colby roared. 

"Colby, it's not what you think!" Sam called. Colby shook his head and stepped forward to rip the blanket off the bed.

"What the fuck is it then?!" Colby demanded. He grabbed Dylan's arm and dragged him out of the bed, holding him down with a hand to the back of his neck.

"Colby please." Sam begged. He managed to force himself to cry more until they flowed freely.

"What, baby?" Colby asked sarcastically; Sam's heart clenched, he liked when Colby called him that but to hear it used in such a bitter tone kind of hurt. "What could you possibly say to make this better?" Sam shook his head and reached out for Colby, he climbed off the bed and tried to pull Colby off Dylan. Colby shook Sam off easily and shoved Dylan against the wall.

"Colby, please. Don't... I didn't... Please." Sam said softly. He wrapped his arms around Colby's waist to try to pull him back but Colby stood his ground and calmly pulled Sam's arms from him.

"How the fuck could you do this?! After everything?" Colby growled, he didn't turn from Dylan but Sam knew Colby was talking to him. "And in my fucking bed!"

"Hey, bro, chill out. We can talk this out." Dylan said. Sam was impressed by his friend's acting skills and the fear Dylan managed to add to his voice.

"Shut the fuck up." Colby hissed. He pressed his forearm against Dylan's throat, not cutting off his airways but enough for Dylan to be uncomfortable.

"Hey Colby, come on, man." Corey stepped in when he saw that Colby was barely holding in his rage. "Calm down, bro."

"How can you tell me to calm down right now?!" Colby asked. Corey laid his hand on Colby's shoulder but Colby shook it off again.

"Colby please." Sam tried again.

"You better shut the fuck up, Samuel." Colby seethed. Sam's breath hitched and he backed up, genuinely afraid. Dylan pushed Colby back while he was distracted but the older boy held him against the wall again with his left hand so he could swing with his right and slam his fist into Dylan's face. Corey surged forward and pulled Colby away from Dylan.

"Let's just think for a moment." Corey said as he tried to hold Colby in place as the younger man was struggling to get out of Corey's grasp.

"I can't fucking think right now, I'm too fucking mad." Colby grumbled. Colby managed to break out of Corey's hold and lunged for Dylan, who ducked under Colby's arm and ran out the room. Colby stormed after Dylan, following him down the stairs before tackling him to the ground in the main hallway. Sam, Corey and Elton hurried to follow them and watched in shock as Colby fought with Dylan, who wasn't really fighting back beyond trying to defend himself. Elton filmed them, sitting on the couch by the kitchen, but Colby was too focused on Dylan.

"Hey, Colby, stop. Come on." Corey shouted. He tried to hold Colby's arms back but the brunette was too determined.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Fucking with my boyfriend?!" Colby roared. Sam stepped back, shocked by Colby's words; they hadn't established what their relationship was so to hear Colby actually say it meant a lot, even if it was in the middle of a prank. 

"What's going on?" Aaron asked, finally stepping down the stairs.

"Aaron, come help us please." Corey called. Aaron hurried down the stairs and easily lifted Colby away from Dylan. Dylan scrambled backwards away from Colby, Sam helped Dylan stand then approached Aaron and Colby.

"How the fuck could you do this to me?!" Colby screamed angrily. Sam flinched back slightly but moved into Colby's view.

"Colby, wait, please." Sam tried. Colby shook his head and looked away from Sam. "Colby, listen to me for a second."

"I don't want to hear anymore fucking excuses." Sam held Colby's cheeks so that his best friend would look at him but Colby kept trying to wiggle away, flicking his head from side to side to get away.

"No, Colby, I swear, I'll explain, just please calm down." Sam plead.

"Why should I?" Colby hissed.

"Because it's a prank." Sam grinned nervously. He hadn't really thought this far ahead, he had an idea of what he could do in the moment but he hadn't thought of how Colby would react to it being a prank. Elton stepped into the room behind them with the camera. Colby and Corey turned to look at Elton then back at Sam and Dylan. Dylan was stood straight up, unaffected by the developing bruises on his face.

"Were you in on this?" Colby pulled himself out of Aaron's grip to look at Corey.

"No, I had no clue." Corey answered with his hands raised in surrender. Colby took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. Colby shook his head in disbelief and walked out of the house. The others stood in silence for a moment but rushed to follow him when they heard the front door slam shut.

"Colby, wait." Sam called as they got outside. Elton waited by Corey's car, filming the roommates in front of him. Corey and Dylan were stood by Sam's car watching Sam call for Colby. Sam froze and stepped back worriedly when Colby whirled around and started back towards Sam. "Colby..." Sam murmured, his heart beating rapidly. Sam backed up slightly but Colby walked forward and pulled Sam into his arms desperately. Corey and Elton shared a knowing look as Colby clutched onto Sam.

"Thank god." Colby whispered. Sam laughed in relief and wrapped his arms around Colby too. "Don't do that shit to me, dude." Sam giggled and moved out of Colby's hold.

"This is my friend, Dylan." Sam introduced. Dylan smiled and waved at Colby.

"Oh hey." Colby greeted. He looked over Dylan's face and grimaced at the light blue/purple rising on his cheeks along with a some splits from Colby's rings connecting with his face. "Shit, I'm sorry, brother." Colby said remorsefully.

"Nah, it's cool. I'm fine." Dylan dismissed with a friendly smile. Colby glanced away shyly. "No seriously, man, I'm fine. Those were good swings but I've had so much worse."

"I'm sorry, Colby." Sam said gently. Colby smiled at Sam and wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulders.

"I'm just fucking happy it was a prank." Colby murmured.

"I wouldn't cheat on you." Sam promised. Colby pulled Sam closer and pressed his lips to Sam's temple.

"That scared the fuck out of me." Colby laughed and held Sam's face in his hands. "Don't pull that shit again."

"Promise." Sam smiled at his best friend. Colby sighed, relieved, and bent down to press his lips to Sam's forehead. Sam grinned, he slipped out of Colby's grasp to take his camera from Elton. Once he had set the camera on Corey's car, he pulled Colby and Dylan into the frame. The other roommates went back inside while Sam finished the video. "Ok, guys, so I think that went pretty well." Sam announced happily. 

"You thought that went well?" Colby asked. Sam laughed and nodded. 

"Yeah, nothing crazy or unexpected happened. So I'd say it was a success." Sam said. 

"I agree. I think it went extremely well." Dylan added, smiling widely. Colby laughed and shook his head. 

"Well, we managed to get him, guys. Hashtag Team Sam." Sam cheered. 

"And don't worry, I'm not mad at him and I'm definitely going to get him back soon enough." Colby addressed the camera, a teasing smile playing on his lips. 

"That's it for today's video, make sure to like and subscribe, let's see if we can get this video to 50,000 likes and maybe I will prank Colby or the roommates again. Subscribe to Colby and follow Dylan on Instagram, their links will be in the description. And I will see you guys next week for another video. Peace." Colby watched patiently as Sam stopped the recording. "I'm just going to put my camera in my room, I'll be right back." Sam explained. Colby nodded, watching Sam disappear back into the house before turning to Dylan.

"I am really sorry, dude." Colby said. Dylan grinned and shook his head, waving Colby off.

"Seriously, don't worry about it. It's good to know that Sam has someone who cares so much about him." Dylan dismissed with a smile. Colby bowed his head, smiling at his feet. "You make him happy and have done for years. I'm happy to take a punch or few if it's to prove that how much you love him." Colby felt his cheeks heat up so he turned his face away from Dylan. 

"Are you guys coming inside?" Sam called from the door. Colby laughed softly and walked back into the house. 


	9. Chapter 9

Sam spent that night editing his prank video, he did cut out Colby punching Dylan even though he thought that it made the video run weirdly, and posted it the next morning. Colby had posted the hospital video the week before and had been making a list of the timestamps for their reaction video. 

"Sam, come on." He heard Jake shout from downstairs. "I want to film this and get it up so we can go." Sam rolled his eyes fondly but he hurried out of his room to join his friends. They were gathered in the gaming room, all of them sat on the couch in front of a camera. 

"Finally." Elton sighed. "Hit record on your way over." Sam sighed, glaring at Elton, then he walked to the couch, pressing record as he passed.

"Ok, everyone ready?" Colby asked after a second, letting Sam settle next to him. "What's up, guys? It's Sam and Colby." Colby started once everyone had nodded. 

"Today, we are here with Aaron, Corey, Jake, Reggie, Elton, Mike and Kevin." Sam continued cheerfully. Colby smiled at Sam then looked back to the camera. "This isn't going to be what you think it is, we're just here to tell you that none of us will be posting for the next week or two." 

"We've just decided that we need a little break from YouTube so we're all going on a little camping trip and we're not going to be posting on our social medias just so that we can just enjoy our time as a family." Colby explained. There was a chorus of 'yeah's that echoed through the room that made Sam smile. 

"So this video is just to let you all know that we're going offline for a bit." Sam finished. 

"We'll see you soon." Colby grinned. Colby jumped up and stopped the camera. "Ok, I'm going to edit this real quick and post it. We can tweet about it on the way to the forest." They all stood up together, Colby disappeared upstairs while the others moved to the hallway, where all of their camping stuff was sat. 

"We should put our tents in first so that we know we have them." Elton instructed. They had 4 2-man tents and a 1-man, so they put 2 of the tents in the trunk of Colby's car and 2 in Elton's truck. Elton stared into the trunk for a minute then carried his tent to the back seat of his car. 

"Do you really think that all of this is going to fit?" Reggie asked as they started to shove their bags into the cars. They each had duffle bags and they had two backpacks, full of games and other forms of entertainment. Kevin stood back away from the cars and watched critically as they tried to negotiate the packing. 

"You know we still have other camping equipment we have to put in." Kevin pointed out, gesturing to the camp chairs and table they had. 

"Oh fuck." Corey muttered. 

"There's room in the truck of Colby's car for like 5 of the chairs, I think." Sam said. Jake dragged two of the chairs to the car. 

"How come there's only 4 bags in here?" Jake asked as he packed the chairs into the truck. 

"Huh?" Sam hummed, pulling two more chairs up to Colby's car. 

"Mine, Reggie, Corey's and...?" Jake pointed out. He turned to take the chairs out of Sam's hands and put them in the car. 

"That one's mine and Colby's." Sam shrugged. Jake and Kevin looked at each other, squinting suspiciously. 

"You're sharing a bag?" Kevin asked. Sam shrugged again and took the last chair to the trunk. 

"Yeah, Colby is bringing like two more hoodies and I'm only taking 5 shirts and two more pairs of jeans. Colby is bringing more than me. That's why we have the big duffle." Sam explained. 

"You know we don't actually know how long we're going for, right?" Mike said, walking passed them as Sam explained. 

"Yeah, but we didn't see the point in packing two bags." Sam said easily. "And it's paying off because we have more room in this car now." 

They methodically packed the cars over the next hour, constantly taking things out and repacking them until everything fit. Colby finally emerged from the house, carrying a big cooler. 

"We ready to go?" Colby asked cheerfully. He beelined to Sam, pressing a quick kiss to Sam's temple before moving around the car to put the cooler down. 

"You really managed to miss out on packing this shit." Elton stated flatly. Colby chuckled and glanced into the cars. 

"It was hard?" He asked. Elton stared at Colby with a blank face.

"Was it hard? It took us an hour." He replied. Colby grimaced through a smile and raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh shit." Colby murmured, "We're getting food on the way?"

"Yeah, there's a store just outside the forest." Elton confirmed. 

"Well let's go." Corey shouted. Sam and Colby got into the front of Colby's car while Jake, Reggie and Corey got in the back. 

"Wait, am I following you?" Colby shouted after rolling down his window. Mike and Kevin got into the back of Elton's car as Elton replied to Colby. 

Colby smiled fondly as his friends snapchatted themselves singing, dancing and messing around as he drove. He could see Sam glancing at him so he shifted his grip on the steering wheel and laid a hand on Sam's thigh. The chatter in the back seat faltered slightly as they watched the scene in front of them with little smiles on their faces. 

"Aaron says that they're stopping at a McDonald's soon." Sam announced after checking his phone. 

"Yes, I'm hungies." Jake whined from the back seat.

"Do you all want food?" Colby responded easily. A chorus of excited agreement filled the car. "Ok, text Aaron back and tell him we're following." Another cheer echoed through them, pulling a smile to Colby's lips. He gently squeezed Sam's thigh, just happy to be in the moment. Sam patted Colby's hand in acknowledgement before texting Aaron. 

"Dude, you've driven past 3 parking spots." Corey complained as Colby drove around the McDonald's parking lot. 

"I'm following Elton, he came round here." Colby muttered as he drove. He parked next to Elton in the back of the parking lot then they filed out of the car. 

"Colby, is my wallet in the backpack?" Sam asked, rummaging through the backpack. 

"Yeah, but you don't need it." Colby shrugged. 

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, catching onto what Colby meant. 

"Yeah, of course. You can get the next one if you want." Colby replied easily. Sam smiled fondly at his best friend then stepped forward to press a sweet kiss to Colby's cheek. They wandered into the restaurant and found a seat that would cater all of them easily. Sam and Jake were left at the table while the others got up to order. 

"Do you have any clue where Elton's taking us?" Sam asked conversationally. Jake laughed and shook his head. 

"No, but I heard him mention a lake to Mike." Jake replied. 

"That makes sense. I was wondering why he was so insistent on us bringing swimming trunks." Jake released another laugh.

"Very Camp Crystal Lake." He commented lightly. 

"Yeah, I don't trust Elton. I feel like something is going to happen." Sam admitted. Jake frowned, turning in his seat so that he could look at Sam's face.

"You mean a prank or something else?" Jake asked seriously. Sam shrugged and gazed up at his friends, his eyes landing on Colby. 

"Elton promised he wouldn't prank us but I just have this voice in my head that's telling he that something is going to happen." Sam eventually murmured. Jake laid his hand on Sam's shoulder comfortingly and bent forward slightly to catch Sam's eye. 

"Whatever happens,  _if_  anything happens, we'll figure it out together." Jake reassured softly. 

"Thanks, Jake." Jake tugged Sam into a quick side hug, then released him when their friends started to join them at the table. Mike and Aaron looked at him with concern in their eyes, having seen their interaction before they had gotten there; Sam simply smiled at their concern and nodded, telling them that he was ok. They slid into their seats, closely followed by Kevin, Elton and Corey. None of them started eating, instead collectively waiting for Reggie and Colby to get back with the rest of the food.

"How far away are we?" Kevin asked, poking his straw into his drink. 

"Not too far." Elton said vaguely as he smirked. The others scowled at him disbelievingly. "It's not!" 

"Mhmm." Corey hummed. Reggie and Colby made their way back over to the table. Sam scrabbled hungrily to pull his food off the tray that Colby was holding, causing Colby to chuckle quietly. Reggie handed Jake his food then sat down next to Mike. They were quiet as they ate, only occasionally talking to one another about small things. 

"How far away is this place? Actually." Colby asked, leaning back in his chair. 

"The grocery store is about an hour away from here then the place is like 40 minutes out from there." Elton answered seriously after swallowing the food in his mouth. Colby nodded then turned his eyes to Sam, who was still eating happily. 

"Do you want to drive for a little?" Colby asked the blonde, gently stroking his hand over Sam's back. 

"No, I think I'm going to have a nap." Sam decided easily. Colby nodded and continued to eat. 

"What do you want from the store if you sleep through to it?" He asked after a moment. Sam hummed thoughtfully as he chewed then turned to Colby. 

"I don't know." He replied honestly. 

"We can get something at the end of the week if we need to, if we are staying for two weeks." Elton added. 

"There's nine of us, we're going to need a lot of food." Mike said. The others murmured their agreements. 

"Finish up, we got to get there before it gets dark."Elton commented after looking over the table to see if everyone was close to finishing. The boys started to stove the remainder of their food before grabbing their things. Elton watched them scramble with amusement in his eyes then turned with a breathy chuckle. He stolled out of the restaurant behind them as they hurried out before him. 

They piled into their cars and made their way out of the car park. Sam reclined his seat as much as he could before Corey and Reggie complained about the space, then he curled up on his side so he could nap. Colby glanced at Sam as he moved but otherwise kept his eyes on the road and where Elton was driving. 

"Do you mind loud music, Sam?" Jake asked softly as Sam's eyes closed. 

"That's fine. Colby listens to music and YouTube nearly every night." Sam mumbled. Jake cheered and leant forward to grab the AUX cord. Sam laughed quietly but kept his eyes shut. 

Sam slept peacefully through his friends laughing, joking and singing along to the music until Corey shook him awake. 

"Are we there?" Sam grumbled. 

"No, we're at the grocery store but I didn't want to leave you here without letting you know where we are." Corey said. Sam sat up and rubbed his eyes to look around the, now parked, car. "Do you want to stay here or come with?" Sam shook himself awake and rolled out of the car. 

The sun was lowering in the sky when they reached the edge of the forest. They all looked up at the treeline in awe as they parked, then their awe turned to worry upon seeing the density of the the forest. The doors slamming echoed through the space follwed by the crushing of footsteps on the gravel. 

They unpacked the cars, piling bags into their arms and reluctantly followed Elton into the forest. The small clearing was only 10 minutes from their cars, which was a small comfort for the group as was the little lake against the side of the clearing, but the trees around it were old, tall and imposing.

"Ok, we can put the tents up." Elton said, dropping the things in his arms onto the floor then picked up his tent. "We can put the fire pit in the centre, have our chairs around that then have our tents behind the chairs, facing the fire." They nodded and got to work on pitching their tents, only speaking to arrange the spacing of their tents. 

Soon enough, their campsite was set up and they were relaxing in their chairs, talking happily while Elton was looking for fire wood. 

"It's cold out here, I hope he gets back soon." Sam whined, curling up as much as he could in his chair. 

"I'm back." Elton called from the trees. They laughed at Sam's quiet cheer and turned to look at Elton walking towards them. Elton knelt by the pit they had formed and started to light the fire. "You guys hungry?" Elton laughed as the flames burst from the wood. 

"I am." Jake mumbled. 

"You're always hungry." Mike said after a laugh. Jake nodded in agreement then leant over to grab some sausages and bacon out of the cooler. He tossed them to Elton then leant back to the cooler to grab everyone a drink. 

Sam watched Elton cook their food contently and leant against the arm of his chair, closer to Colby. He listened happily to his friends talking and laughing. 

After they ate, they told each other stories; it started with fun memories but, eventually, inevitably, the stories descended into horror stories. Sam leant forward as he listened the stories, an excited smile on his face as everyone else got into the stories they were telling. Colby smiled affectionately at the back of Sam's head, lifting his arm to rest it on the back of his chair. 

Sam watched in amusement as Corey gradually got more shifty and more scared; looking around the trees anxiously. It wasn't long until he tapped out with a nervous laugh and a quick goodnight before he hurried into his tent. 

After Corey departed to his tent, the others started to disappear into their tents too. Until only Sam and Mike remained around the fire. 

"You and Colby seem close..." Mike mentioned casually during a lull in their conversation. Sam smiled fondly, still staring into the flames. "I mean, you've always been close but it feels different. To me, at least." Sam chuckled and nodded. 

"Yeah, we are. Closer, I mean." Sam replied. Mike smiled at him. "It's like nothings changed but everything has at the same time, you know?" 

"You're happy?" Mike asked softly. Sam caught his gaze and smile too, then he turned to look at the tent behind him briefly. 

"I'm so fucking happy." He confirmed, "It's like everything we went through at the hospital was worth it, and I would do it again to be where I am with him." 

"Are you together yet or are you still exploring it right now?" Mike questioned, leaning forward in genuine interest. 

"We aren't together. Not offically." Sam murmured with a small shake of his head. "And exploring is what we do so..." He shrugged but glanced off absently. 

"You want to be with him." Mike stated. Sam nodded slowly and rested his head on his chair. 

"But I want him to ask me. Otherwise, I'll feel like I forced him and I don't want that." Mike nodded in understanding and leant back in his chair. "That doesn't really make sense, because he might feel that way too and then we'll get nowhere but I think that we know each other pretty well and we might just get there mutually." 

"It's got to be what works for both of you. And it's fine if you can get there together without words." Mike added easily. Sam smiled then looked at his phone. 

"Oh fuck, it's nearly 2. We should get to bed." He laughed, already standing. "Thanks for listening." 

"No problem." Mike replied with a grin. Sam returned the smile and crawled into his tent. He tried to change as quietly as possible but Colby still leant up on his elbow to look at Sam through the dark. 

"Hiya Sammy." He mumbled sleepily.

"Did I wake you?" Sam whispered. He crawled over to the sleeping bag, lifting the blankets they brought and shuffling next to Colby. He sighed contentedly as he laid on Colby's warm chest and the brunette's arm wrapped around him. 

"Nah, I wasn't really sleeping. Not properly." Sam's eyes closed as he listened to Colby's deep, sleepy voice. He shifted slightly to get more comfortable; his leg naturally coming up to rest on Colby's thighs so he curled up into his bestfriend's side more fully. "Did you have fun?" Colby asked, laying his free hand on Sam's knee. 

"Yeah, I'm excited to have a break." Colby chuckled and pressed a gentle kiss to Sam's hair. 

"Me too." They laid in silence for a few minutes; Sam absently drawing on Colby's chest and Colby stroking his hand up and down Sam's leg. 

Colby had been half listening to Sam and Mike talk, so he had heard Mike ask if they were together. He was happy to move slowly and let their relationship evolve naturally but he still had some urges. Especially when it came to Sam. 

With that in mind, he moved his hand to gently run his hand through Sam's hair and cup the blond's jaw to guide his face up. Sam frowned slightly but his heart started to race when Colby began to slowly pull him forward towards his face, giving him chance to pull back. But Sam had been waiting for this moment for so long. Colby paused for half a second when their faces got closer, he let his eyes flick over Sam' face then closed his own eyes and closed the gap between them. 

Sam's hand tightened on Colby's chest before he slid it up to his bestfriend's neck. 

For a moment, their kiss was simple, chaste but still meaningful. Then Colby carefully pulled Sam closer and began to deepen their kiss slightly. Sam shifted closer and leant into Colby. 

As their kiss slowed, ending with soft pecks, Colby trailed his hand down Sam's body again and smiled up at him when the smaller boy moved back to look at him. 

"You sleepy?" Colby asked softly as he watched Sam blink sleepily. Sam huffed a quiet laugh and laid his head on Colby's shoulder. "It is pretty late, but it's not like we have to get up early." Colby said after checking his phone. Sam lifted his head up again and pressed another quick kiss to Colby's lips then settled down against the other boy. 

"Sleep." Sam mumbled simply. Colby chuckled. A small, happy smile made it's way onto Sam's lips before he fell into a peaceful sleep. 


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Sam woke up sweaty, wrapped up in the blanket with the sun streaming on the tent. He frowned and rubbed his eyes, kicking the blanket away from him.

"Oh, he lives." Kevin announced as Sam crawled out of the tent. 

"Oh is everyone awake?" Sam grumbled as he fell into his chair. Corey, Kevin, Elton and Reggie were sat around the fire pit, holding cans of energy drink.

"It's 11am, dude." Corey said with a smile. Sam returned the smile and laid his head back on the chair.

"We're thinking of going to the lake today." Elton informed him.

"Feels warm enough." Sam nodded. "Where's everyone else?"

"They'll be back soon, they went to grab more snacks." Elton replied. "We seriously underestimated how much 9 guys eat."

"It's been less than a day." They laughed then Reggie handed Sam his own drink.

"So when they get back we'll be able to go to the lake." Elton continued.

"Do you guys have any plans for your next video?" Kevin asked.

"I have plans for an overnight at a waterpark." Elton said, looking at Sam expectantly. 

"You know I'm down." Sam smiled. "I found an abandoned warehouse the other day that I want to go to. I still need to tell Colby about it though."

"I'm exposing Reggie." Kevin added. Elton 'ooh'ed then stood, wandering to his tent to grab something.

"Sam, you're awake." A voice called from the trees. Sam and Corey turned to face them and was greeted with a grinning Jake; Mike, Colby and Aaron following behind. They joined them at the fire pit and dropped their bags on the floor.

"Are you feeding an army?" Kevin asked incredulously. They laughed and started to pack the cold food in the cooler.

"Once you've got that sorted, get into your swimming trunks and we can go to the lake." Elton said as he emerged from his tent. The rest of the boys hurried to put everything away and get into their swimming trunks.

"Did you sleep alright?" Colby asked Sam when they met in their tent to get their trunks. Sam gave Colby a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I slept really good. I woke up really sweaty though." Sam replied.

"I was going to wake you and ask if you wanted to come with us but you looked so peaceful and you went to sleep late." Colby said. Sam shook his head with a quiet laugh and laid his head on Colby's shoulder.

"It's not like we're not used to going to bed late." Said Sam. Colby rested his hand on Sam's head and leant his cheek against Sam's hair.

"Yeah, but we're on vacation."

"Oh really?! I was wandering why we were in this forest." Sam retorted sarcastically. Colby huffed a laugh while he shoved Sam away playfully.

"Shut up and get your trunks, you piece of garbage." Sam did as he was told with an amused smile on his face, unknowing that Colby was watching him fondly.

They kept their eyes on the floor as they both changed, as they always did, then they joined the others by the fire pit.

"So, who's going first, boys?" Elton said with a grin. With a quick glance at each other, they all darted towards the lake.

Some ran into the lake, some bravely drove from the shore, while others headed for the wooden dock and jumped off that.

Aaron and Kevin began to leisurely float on their backs, just enjoying the moment, Elton, Colby and Corey immediately started a water fight amongst themselves, soon coaxing Jake and Mike into it as Reggie and Sam watched. It wasn't long before everyone was involved in the water fight and everyone was splashing each other, dunking others in the water and climbing on each other.

There was a small moment of peace, people either swimming or floating, until Jake slowly swam towards Corey under the water and pulled him under too. Jake emerged with a laugh and promptly restarted the water fight.

After a few hours, and Jake complaining about being hungry, they left the lake laughing. Jake made a beeline towards the cooler and threw some burgers on his chair then waited impatiently for the others.

They ate and spoke until the sun started to dip behind the trees when Elton decided that he was going to get more fire wood.

"I'm coming too." Corbin said. Elton shrugged and asked if anyone else wanted to go; Aaron stood too then they headed into the woods. Kevin disappeared into his tent, claiming he was going to read until the others got back, Corey and Reggie were discussing some YouTube channel that they had been watching while Colby, Mike and Jake were talking about music. Sam sighed contently and relaxed into his chair but something had him turning to the trees, his eyes darting along the darkening treeline cautiously. He shifted uncomfortably and looked at Colby. The other boy glanced at Sam with a small smile but continued his conversation without hesitating. Sam looked into the trees again; looking between them into the darkness and into the leaves looking down on them. He felt chills on the back of his neck so he moved closer to Colby again.

"You ok?" Colby asked softly, breaking Sam's concentration on the trees.

"Hmm?" Colby frowned, quickly glancing at Jake before laying his hand on Sam's forearm.

"What's up?" He tried again. Sam just shook his head and stood up to sit across Colby's lap. Colby's frown deepened but he wrapped his arm around Sam's waist and leant their heads together when Sam nuzzled into his neck. "You cold?" Sam shook his head, wrapping his arms around Colby's neck to hold him tightly. "What's wrong then?"

"Just feel weird." Sam mumbled.

"Do you want to go in our tent?" Sam peeked up at the trees again then shook his head.

"When they get back and the fire is going." He said eventually. Colby hugged him close for a second then turned back to the others to continue their conversation.

"Remind me to do this shit when the sun is still up tomorrow." Elton announced as he, Aaron and Corbin emerged from the trees, their arms piled with wood. A small chuckle filtered through the campsite They all waited impatiently as Elton lit the fire and sighed contently as the warmth finally washed over them.

It wasn't long before the quiet campsite was filled with voices and laughter once again.

"Do you still want to go into our tent?" Colby asked after a few minute of them talking. Sam looked around at his friends then laid his head down on Colby's shoulder again, no noticing how they each turned to look at them with fond smiles.

"No, I feel better now." He felt Colby's eyes on him for a moment before the other man seemed content with his answer and returned to the group conversation.

The fire was still burning strong when Sam decided that he wanted to go into the tent. They changed quickly then crawled under the sleeping bag. Colby laid on his back and opened his arms for Sam to lay with him. Instead of curling up to Colby's side as he had the night before, Sam carefully straddled Colby's thighs then laid down on him. Colby chuckled at the blond but started to run his hand up and down Sam's back.

"What was up earlier?" Colby said softly. Sam waited a moment, just listening to their friends talking around the fire.

"I just felt like something was in the trees." Another frown appeared on Colby's face and he gently pushed Sam's face up so they could look at each other.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Sam distracted himself for a moment by tracing his finger over Colby's collarbone.

"It just felt like something was watching us from the trees. But it went away when Elton come back with the fire wood." Sam replied. Colby stroked his hand over Sam's cheek and looked into his eyes.

"You're ok?" He asked, voice concerned. Sam smiled and slid his hand up to cup the back of Colby's neck.

"I'm ok." Sam said. Colby looked over Sam's face for a moment, their friends' voices still a constant sound from outside the tent. Once Colby had seen some confirmation in Sam's eyes, he leant up to press their lips together. Sam felt his entire body relax into Colby's as their kiss deepened. Colby pulled his knees up, the action pushing Sam closer to his body. Sam shifted above Colby, not wanting to pull away but wanting to hold more of his own weight so that they could deepen the kiss with the new angle. Colby's hands started to run up and down Sam's back again, catching on the hem of Sam's shirt before caressing over the skin. Sam hummed contently and ran his hands through Colby's hair, tugging gently and smiling into the kiss when Colby groaned softly. In one swift movement, Colby rolled them over and pushed Sam into the sleeping bag. Sam whined and tugged Colby closer. They were breathing heavily but neither wanted to pull away. Instead, Colby leant all his weight on one hand to hook his hand under Sam's knee to encourage the blond to wrap his legs around him.

"Are you guys eating tonight?" A voice from outside the tent said, pulling them apart abruptly. Sam dropped his head back, chest heaving and legs still wrapped around Colby while the brunette laid his forehead on Sam's chest as he caught his breath too.

"Typical." Colby grumbled. Sam laughed and gently hit Colby's side to get him to sit up. Colby sat up and admired Sam; his arms resting either side of him, his hands by his head, his legs still hooked around Colby. Sam looked up at the brunette with a shy smile.

"Yo, Sam, Colby. You eating?" Corey tried again, shaking the tent violently.

"Yeah, we are." Colby called back after receiving a nod from Sam.

"It'll be ready in like 20 minutes." After hearing Corey moving away from the tent, Colby rubbed his hands over his face then rested them on Sam's thighs.

"You wanna go out and sit with them?" Colby asked. Sam looked over the other man and reached up to lock his hands behind Colby's neck to pull him back down over him.

"I mean, we have 20 minutes." Sam said coyly, biting his bottom lip. Colby chuckled and lowered himself over Sam again. He balanced on one forearm then cupped Sam's face, stroking his thumb over his bottom lip before he pressed their lips together again. Sam's legs tightened around Colby's waist and his arms wrapped around his neck.

"Fuck." Colby breathed when they briefly pulled apart. Sam moaned softly when Colby's tongue made it's way past his lips and the brunette pulled him impossibly closer. Colby held onto Sam's thigh with a bruising grip then slid it down, drawing another gasp from the blond. Colby chuckled again and drew Sam's bottom lip in between his teeth.

"Oh," Sam exhaled and arched slightly into Colby's body.

"You like that, baby?" Colby whispered in Sam's ear, nibbling at Sam's earlobe. "You like it a little rough?"

"I guess I do." Sam whispered. Colby chuckled lowly and brought their lips together in a rough kiss. Sam dug his fingers into Colby's shoulders, a whine forcing it's way out of his mouth.

"Ay, it's ready." Corey's voice interrupted them again. Sam sighed heavily and laid back with his eyes closed. Colby unhooked Sam's legs from around his waist and tidied his hair. Sam sat  up and did the same, lowering his shirt again too. Colby gave Sam a once over then opened the tent with a proud smirk. They sat down in their chairs and took theh plates that were offered to them. Everyone shared knowing looks while Mike looked at Sam and winked, nodding at Sam's kiss bitten lips and the proud look on Colby's face.

"You feeling better now, Sam?" Reggie asked, a laugh in his tone. A light blush made it's way to Sam's cheeks as he nodded, stuffing his mouth as an excuse not to answer verbally.

"What was up earlier?" Aaron asked. He had been in the conversation with the others when they were talking about what was happening in the tent but now he was concerned.

"I just had a weird feeling earlier." Sam said with a shrug. Aaron watched him for a moment then turned back to his food.

After dinner, they settled into quiet conversation as they looked at the stars, much more visible away from the city, and they all retreated to bed in the early hours.


End file.
